You and Me
by shygirl1
Summary: Sequel to A Quiet Night. As Max settles into her new life in Canada, her relationship with Zack grows. MaxZack.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Notes: This is the sequel to "A Quiet Night" and it's about Max's life since re-settling in Canada and the progression of her relationship with Zack, so it's an AU from this point on. This starts a few months after "A Quiet Night." Spoiler-ish stuff for "411 on the D.L.," "Cold Comfort," and "The Kidz Are Aiight."

Max smiled as she entered some data into the computer at her desk. _Yeah, just another day in the life of a secretary. Answer the phones, keep track of the asshole—I mean, the boss' schedule…the usual._ She looked up from her work and saw a sleazy-looking blond woman approaching her and she smiled sweetly. "Here for your lunchtime screw?"

"Oh, very funny," the blond woman said sarcastically. "Is he free?"

"Believe it or not, he's in a meeting right now. He actually does work," Max said. "Don't worry, the meeting's almost finished. Just have a seat and he'll be with you in a few minutes."

"Thanks," the woman said. She gave Max one more glare before she sat down.

_If this is what Mr. Benton's taste in women is like, I'd hate to meet his wife,_ Max thought.

The door to her boss' office opened and some business men walked out. Mr. Benton waved to them and then he saw the blond woman and he grinned. He turned to Max. "Hold all my calls for the next hour, Ms. Vasquez."

"I—yes, Mr. Benton," Max said. She watched as he and the blond woman disappeared into the office and waited until the door closed before she sighed. _It's been about three months and I still have to stop myself from telling people that my name is Max Guevara, not Kara Vasquez. One of these days, I'll be able to use my real name in public again._

She looked at the time in the corner of her computer monitor and shrugged. _I might as well take my lunch now. It's not like the boss is going to need anything for the next hour._ Max stood up and stretched and walked up to Mr. Benton's door and knocked. "Sir? I'm taking my hour for lunch now." She heard a grunt in response and shuddered and grabbed her jacket and purse and left the building. She walked down the street, smiling to herself as she looked around.

_It's really amazing the difference between the Canadian cities and the ones back in the U.S._, she thought. _Everything's so clean here. Nothing out of the ordinary is run down. I mean, it's a large city so of course there's going to be some parts of it that aren't the greatest in the known universe, but compared to some of the places that I've lived in over the years, Canada looks like an absolute paradise. But I guess that's what happens when you live in a country that wasn't affected by the Pulse. Everything's clean, everything works, there's no sector checkpoints or sectors at all like there was back in the States, and best of all, you don't see soldiers everywhere. You don't see them at all, really, unless they're off duty and happen to come into the city for whatever reason. The best part about living here? I'm out of Lydecker's jurisdiction! Take that, Don._

Max stopped in front of a small restaurant and went inside and sat down at a booth. She opened her purse to check to see how much money she had on her and felt her fingers brush over not one, but two cell phones as she reached for her wallet. _The emergency phone. I can't believe that Zack had a contact number all of this time and he didn't give it to me the first time that he checked in on me in Seattle or even when he came by there again when Brin got into trouble. Okay, I can understand about the second time because getting Brin away from the bastards who'd taken her was definitely a bigger priority than giving me a phone number, but why not the first time?_ She shrugged to herself as she took out her wallet and counted her money before putting it back in her purse and closing that back up. _You know Zack, the one person on the planet who's more stubborn than I am. He was probably still pissed that I wasn't willing to leave Seattle then._

She let a waitress take her order and then sat back. _I miss Seattle. I know that it really was time to finally leave there three months ago, but that still doesn't stop me from missing it or my friends. Original Cindy, Sketchy, Herbal, Kendra, and…_ She sighed. _Logan. What the hell was going on with us when he dropped me and Zack off at the cabin the day that I left? Why the hell did I kiss him? I don't love him or anything like that. Hell, I was probably so whacked in the head because I'd had that close call back at South Market and that I'd known that it would most likely be the last time that I'd see him. God only knows how I felt when we escaped from Manticore!_

Max thanked the waitress when her food was brought to her and started to eat, though her thoughts didn't die down. _I still think about my brothers and sisters every day. I still want to search for them, but I can't right now. I mean, it's so hard to find somebody to trust and I'm still basically settling in. Pretty much the best thing that I can do right now is just sneak up to the top of the CN tower every night and hope and pray that we'll be reunited one of these days. At least I see Zack every six weeks or so when he comes by to check up on me. He should be coming by again sometime in the next couple of days. It'll probably the usual 'How have you been and are you keeping the barcode hidden blah, blah, blah' dealio. I wish that he'd loosen up more, like he did the night he and I headed north. That night…I guess it was one in a million. How many times has Zack ever talked like that? How many times did he smile before then? Not many, if ever, not even back when we were kids and we were back in our barracks for the night._

She finished her food and paid and went back outside. _Well, whatever happens, it'll happen. Whether it's Zack opening up or seeing Jondy, Krit, Zane, Brin, or any other of my siblings, or seeing my old friends from Seattle, I just need to wait patiently._ Max couldn't help laughing to herself. _Yeah, me being patient for something that I want badly. Hey, stranger things have happened!_

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Max yawned and stretched as she lay on her bed watching TV one night a few days later. _Good grief, what a long day today. I wish I didn't have--_ She groaned when her thoughts were interrupted by somebody knocking at her front door. She got up and walked from her bedroom into her living room and over to the door. She unlocked it and opened it and smiled tightly when she saw one of her neighbors standing in the hallway. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"You're damn right you can help me, Carol," the woman said angrily. "You can start by not playing that God-awful metal music at top volume all night! Then how about not leaving empty beer bottles in front of my door. How about that? Do you think that you can help me with that?"

Max sighed irritably. "For the millionth time, Mrs. Stanley, it's _Kara_, not Carol. For the gazillionth time, I have never done a single thing to disturb you or to litter the floor in front of your apartment. It's the college morons next door in apartment 517 that have been blasting the music and drinking like idiots and leaving their bottles in front of your place because they're lazy. I'm not in the best mood, either, so please leave and let me relax. I've been working my ass off all day and this is the first chance I've had all day to relax. I'll see you in the hall or the next time that you decide to blame something that's pissing you off on a random neighbor." She shut the door in Mrs. Stanley's face. "I don't even like heavy metal."

"Neither do I. I don't mind hard rock, though."

"I didn't know you listened to music," Max said without missing a beat. She turned to face Zack, who was sitting in her living room couch. "Fire escape out of spare room window?"

"Yeah," Zack confirmed. "I don't listen to music too often, mostly just when I'm sitting someplace that has it playing on their sound system."

"Oh," Max said. "Want something while you're here? Coffee, soda, leftover pizza from last night?"

"No, thank you," Zack said. "How have things been going?"

Max shrugged. "The same as they were going the last time that you checked in on me. Mr. Benton's still an asshole though he changed mistresses a few weeks ago. I'm safe from him as long as I don't bleach my hair. I haven't pulled too many heists but then again, I haven't needed to. I'm actually making enough money to cover my rent and my other expenses legitimately. The only major thing that I've stolen since I've gotten here has been my new baby." She patted her new motorcycle proudly. "I still miss the Ninja, but this girl here is special, too."

"That's good," Zack said. "I'm glad that you're still doing well."

"Thanks," Max said. "Deck still doesn't have half a clue where I am?"

Zack shook his head. "No, he doesn't. I keep tabs on him as much as I can and from what I've picked up, all trails leading to any one of us have been cold since you left Seattle. You're still in the clear."

"Good to know," Max said. There was an almost awkward silence between the two of them. "How long are you going to be in Toronto this time? You didn't even stay for a full twenty-four hours the last time that you popped in on me."

"I don't know," Zack said. "I'll probably leave sometime tomorrow night or by dawn the day after tomorrow at the latest. I'm not going to be here too long again."

"People to see, things to do," Max quipped. "It's cool, I guess." She tried to shake off the disappointment she'd felt when Zack had told her about the length of his stay. "Do you need a place to crash or do you have something set?"

"I've got a place," Zack said.

Max sighed. _This is boring. Damn, why can't we just…_ She brightened suddenly. "I know what we can do tonight if you're still awake later. There's an area just outside of the city where there are few police patrols overnight. It's the—" She was cut off suddenly by loud banging on her front door and she sighed irritably. "Can I help you?"

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, young lady!" Mrs. Stanley screeched from out in the hallway.

"This is unbelievable," Max said. "I'll be right back." She turned around and walked back to her door and opened it. "What is it now, Mrs. Stanley?"

"What…is the meaning…of THAT!" she snapped, pointing to the open beer cans lying in front of the door to her apartment. Beer had leaked out from the containers and was staining the hallway carpet. "I just got through telling you, Carol, that—"

"Shut the hell up," Max snapped. "First of all, get my name right. Second of all, either you're deaf or you must have had earplugs in because the frat house idiots from 517 came back from whatever they were doing before and I heard them pause in the hallway for a moment when I assumed they were trying to sober up enough to get their keys out so that they could let themselves into their apartment. And last but certainly not least, I am currently on the phone with somebody from work and it's a very important call that could possibly be the difference as to whether I'll ever be promoted or not so why don't you shut up and leave me the hell alone. Heck, I'll do one better." She stepped outside and almost dragged Mrs. Stanley to the college boys' apartment door. "Here you are. Now, confront them about the problem like you should have been doing all along and leave me alone!" She went back into her apartment and slammed her door shut. "I'm so sorry, Zack. That woman…she's just pissing me off even more so than usual tonight. I barely see you as it is and she…" Max shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Max," Zack assured her.

"Yeah, I guess," Max said.

"What were you talking about before we were interrupted?" Zack asked.

"Oh," Max said. She perked up again. "Well…"

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to HoneyX5-452, MoonAngel23, angelofdarkness78, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Notes: Spoilers/spoiler-ish stuff from "411 on the D.L.," "Cold Comfort," "Blah Blah Woof Woof," and the pilot. Special thank you to jracklesfan77 for her help with this chapter!

Max finished putting the last of her makeup on and left the bathroom, looking for her purse. _Stupid makeup. What the hell was I thinking, choosing a job that made me wear something less than casual? Oh yeah, I believe that it was the money. It was the highest paying job that I could find that Zack said wasn't above the radar and all._ She sighed. _Damn, I wish that he didn't have to leave last night. It was nice having him around. Not that he said too much, but still…it's Zack._

She grabbed her purse and jacket and left her apartment and went downstairs. She pulled on her jacket as she left the building and stood at the bus stop on the corner and got on the bus when it pulled up to the curb several minutes later. Max paid the driver and found a seat and sat down in it and looked out the window as the bus pulled back into traffic.

_It makes you think, doesn't it? Taking public transportation to get to and from your job instead of riding a bicycle or driving your own car. Not that I ever had a car of my own…_ She couldn't help laughing to herself at that thought. _Still, it's interesting to just watch all these people go to and from their own jobs. You wonder how they do it every single day and then you remember that you're one of them. It's weird, that's for sure._

"Hi, Kara," a cheerful voice said after the bus had pulled up to another stop.

Max smiled. "Hey, Jamie." She motioned for her friend to sit down next to her. "Ready for another day at the office?"

"You don't have an office," Jamie teased.

"Yeah, rub that in my face," Max said. They laughed. "One of these days, I'll get back to school and finish my degree and then I'll get my own office. Until then, I'm happy doing the working-and-living-on-my-own thing, you know?"

"I know what you mean," Jamie said. "My older brother decided about a year into college that he wanted to take some time off and work for awhile, just like you did. He eventually got his degree."

"Where did you say before that he was living?" Max asked.

"Montreal," Jamie said. "He got some job down there. I don't even remember what it is. We kind of had a big fight a few years ago and we've barely spoken since."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I really don't even remember what the hell it was about, but the only times that I ever speak to my brother anymore are when we're both visiting our parents during the holidays and even then it's just the basic polite stuff," Jamie said. "I honestly don't know how I ever got along with him that well in the first place. He doesn't say that much, he's stubborn as hell, and he's got this uber-male-tough-guy-can't-show-emotions deal going on."

"I see," Max said. _Huh, her brother sounds a lot like Zack, only less appealing. I bet he isn't as good-looking, but name one person who is._ She blinked. _Wait a second, did I actually think that Zack is good-looking? Okay, he is an X5 and the word 'round Manticore was that he was the best so it would make sense that…am I going into heat? No, that can't be right. I had my last heat two weeks ago._

"Are you okay, Kara?" Jamie asked.

Max blinked and turned back to Jamie and smiled. "Yeah, Jamie, I'm fine. It's just that I was thinking of someone from back in W—Winnipeg, that's all."

"You're from Winnipeg? I didn't know that," Jamie said.

"Hey, you've only been working at the stupid company for that past month," Max teased. They both laughed.

"True," Jamie admitted. "What's it like in Winnipeg? Does your family still live there or did you move from there when you were little or…sorry, Kara, I've got this bad habit of running my mouth sometimes. You'd think that I'd be over it, but no…"

Max just laughed again. "No, it's cool, and you're right. My family and I moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver when I was a kid."

"Got any siblings?" Jamie asked. "Are they as pig-headed as my brother is?"

"No," Max said. "I've got a brother. He's my twin, actually." _For all I know, Krit and I could have been tossed into the same surrogate. Zack did say that we were brought to the unit at the same time._ "He's still in college. He goes to one of those big sports schools down in the States. I mean, it's one of those places that you always hear about them winning the something-or-other bowl year after year." _Krit loved anything that had to do with athletics. If things were different, he would definitely have been at one of those schools._

"An athlete, huh?" Jamie said. "Sounds interesting."

"Yeah, my brother's an interesting guy," Max said.

"Probably the most interesting thing my brother ever did was when we were kids and he led us—me and him, I mean—in playing games. I mean, he wasn't boring, but…then again, we had a hectic childhood. Dad's work had us moving around all the time. It's not like I actually had much of a chance to really know him," Jamie said.

"That's tough," Max said sympathetically. _If you knew how much I know it sucks to be on the move and not to see or in your case, get to really know, your sibs. Thank goodness I actually saw Zack and even Brin for that brief time, however sad it was._

"What can you do about it, though?" Jamie said. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Kara. I didn't mean to bring this conversation down like this."

"It's cool," Max said. _I don't mind too much. I mean, I really can understand where Jamie's coming from, not like I can tell her or anything. I wish I could tell her. It'd be nice to have a friend that I can actually tell everything and not have to worry about them ratting me out even accidentally. Geez, even with Logan. One false move from him or if somebody traces his hacks and if he's got any info on my on his computers, then I could have been done for in a manner of speaking. I mean, look at how our friendship started._

She turned to look out the window of the bus. _People sure have a habit of coming into or back into my life in unusual ways. Look at how Zack came back into my life. God, I was such a bitch to him when I thought that he was just some random guy who was hired right after Normal sent Herbal packing. If I had known that 'Sam' was really Zack from the start, if I had just fucking recognized him, then I wouldn't have acted towards him the way that I did. I really wish that I didn't act like that. I know that he's forgiven me for that now._

Max played with one of the cuffs of her blouse. _He's really forgiven me for a lot over the years. Okay, the time when I was seven and he was about ten or eleven or so and I accidentally pushed him off of the tree branch and right into that huge mud puddle when we were outside on a training mission was one thing. That really was an accident! When he wanted me to leave Seattle the first time, I can see how pissed he probably was. He didn't yell at me when he sort-of told me good-bye, but he still must have been annoyed at the very least. He had that look on his face. I hadn't seen that look or something close to it since that one time about a year before we got the hell out of Manticore when Jondy, Syl, Jace, Lana, and I pulled a prank on Zack, Krit, Zane, and the other guys. I still don't know why Tinga and Brin and the other girls didn't join in and help us. But damn, Zack sure was mad then! Even then, his lips pouted in that really cute way…time out, Max!_

She blinked and closed her eyes for a moment. _This is really weird. Why the hell am I thinking of Zack as being incredibly gorgeous? He's Zack, for crying out loud! You've grown up together. You thought of him as your big brother when you were a little girl. He's the same guy who was there for you whenever you had a nightmare when you were small, who let you cry on his shoulder when the took Jack away because of that seizure right before we escaped, who was listening to you and was so nice when you were sad about leaving Seattle a few months ago, the one who when he finally does smile, just lights up an entire room. It's just Zack! Calm down._

"Are you okay?" Jamie asked.

"I'm fine," Max said. "Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to find the nearest mental hospital and check yourself in?"

"All the time," Jamie said. "Today's one of those days?"

"Big time," Max said.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, HoneyX5-452, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Max waited patiently in front of her apartment building one night several weeks later. _I deserve this night out. I hope that Jamie gets here soon._ A few moments later, she saw Jamie's car turn onto the street and then pull up to the curb in front of Max. Max waited until Jamie unlocked the passenger side door and got in and put her seatbelt on. "Hey. You're right on time."

"Yeah, I thought I left enough time before I left my apartment," Jamie said. She shrugged. "That's one reason why I take the bus to and from work. Traffic around here usually sucks before 11pm. That and the price of gas has been going up again."

"True," Max said. She looked out in front of her and sighed. "Thank goodness it finally stopped raining ten minutes ago." She stretched her arms as much as she could. "Where's this club that you were talking about at work today?"

"It's all the way in Hamilton," Jamie said. "It's about sixty or so kilometers from here, but if it's as good as I was told that it is, it'll be worth the drive." She pulled away from the curb. "Speaking of traffic, do you mind if we take the back roads there?"

"Not at all," Max said. They were quiet for a few minutes. "Did Mr. Benton and I guess she would be his ex-bimbo continue their fight through your part of the building late this afternoon before we left?"

Jamie laughed. "I sure did, Kara. That must have been some fight if it went all the way from Mr. Benton's office through advertising to wherever they finally finished their argument."

Max looked surprised. "Are you kidding me, Jamie? They didn't stop fighting?"

"Nope," Jamie said. "They kept on yelling at each other as they passed through. I've got a feeling that they didn't stop until they were two blocks away from the building." She and Max both laughed. "He really needs to either get a sane mistress or just stop cheating on his wife."

"Oh yeah," Max said. They were silent again for a little while before something caught Max's eye and she frowned. "Jamie, stop the car." Jamie gave Max a puzzled frown, but she pulled over to the side of the empty road and stopped the car. Max got out and walked over to the side of the road and picked something up. "It looks like a tailpipe." She turned it over. "I'd say it's from a motorcycle."

"That's odd," Jamie said. "You think somebody wrecked?"

"Possibly," Max said. She started to step forward to look, but stopped herself. "Got a flashlight in your car?"

"Yeah, I've got the whole emergency kit deal," Jamie said. She went back over to the car and opened the trunk and got out not one, but two flashlights and handed one of them to Max. They turned them on and shone them on the road. "I think you're right. There are skid marks over there. It definitely appears to have been from a motorcycle. It looks as if the rider lost control over there…but all we found was the tailpipe. That's weird."

"It is," Max agreed. She sniffed. "I can still smell burnt rubber. Barely, but I can still smell it." _Actually, I can definitely smell it. If I were normal like you, then it'd be barely._ "The wreck must have happened within the last half-hour." She shrugged. "Personal experience. I got a broken leg out of it, too."

Jamie winced, obviously buying the lie. "Ouch." She moved her flashlight around and it lit on another motorcycle part on the other side of the road. "There's another part over there."

"I'll take this side of the road and you take that one," Max said. Jamie nodded and they began to search. _I might not have wrecked my bike badly enough to injure myself, but I have seen one of my old friends from when I was living in St. Louis back in '17 wreck like this, or how I think this person wrecked. I remember how the debris scattered when he crashed and it didn't happen like this. It's like this rider is deliberately re-scattering the debris or maybe even trying to cover up the accident all together. Why?_ Her foot brushed something metallic and she frowned and moved her flashlight downward to show that she had nearly stepped on a handgun. _What the fuck?_ Max took a deep breath and picked it up. _There's something familiar about this…_ She suddenly stuck the gun in the waistband of her jeans and raced forward, all of her senses alert, before she stopped suddenly when she heard the faintest of groans. She looked down and to her horror, saw Zack lying on the ground, obviously injured and only half-conscious. "Oh my God, Zack, what happened?"

"Road was slick…" he gasped. "Drunk driver was zigzagging on the road and I…" He winced and tried to talk again. "I tried to cover up my wreck but…"

"Save your strength," Max said. "I'm with a friend and she has a car. We'll get you back to my place." She found Zack's bag nearby and shoved the gun inside it before she raised her voice. "Jamie! Get here, quick!" They heard footsteps and a few minutes later, Jamie was running over to them.

"Holy shit," she said. "How bad is he, Kara?"

"I don't know," Max said honestly.

"Come on, let's get him to a hospital," Jamie said.

"No," Max said immediately. "He hates hospitals. Trust me, he's a friend of mine. I've known him since we were kids. My place is closer. Let's get back there." She picked up Zack's bag and slung the strap across her shoulder.

"Okay, your call," Jamie said. "Take his arms and I'll get his legs." Together, they lifted Zack and carried him back out to Jamie's car and carefully got him into the backseat. Max sat with him, holding his head on her lap while Jamie drove back to Max's apartment. Jamie pulled up in front and got her first-aid kit out of the trunk and then help Max get Zack and his things out of the car and up and into Max's apartment. They laid him down on the bed in Max's spare bedroom and Jamie started to get supplies out of the kit. "Do you have a first-aid kit, bandages, anything like that here?"

"Yeah," Max said. "Do you know what you're doing?" She bit her lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"It's okay," Jamie said. "He's your friend. I understand that you're worried. And yes, I actually was a paramedic for awhile a few years ago." She started to get some bandages and antiseptic out of the first aid kit while Max went and got some supplies of her own. Jamie handed her a cloth that she'd already put some peroxide on. "Go ahead and clean up that scrape on his arm while I check him for a concussion." The two of them worked quickly. When they were done, they quietly left the room so that Zack could rest and they sat down on Max's couch. "He'll be okay, I think. Judging by how his pupils reacted, I'd say he only has a mild concussion, moderate at worst. He's got a couple of bruised or broken ribs, probably both, bruises and scrapes everywhere, and I really think that you should drag his ass to a hospital because that left leg looks like it's broken. I know that we splinted it, but it should be in a cast."

"I'll talk him into it later," Max said. She let out a sigh. "Thank you so much, Jamie."

"Not a problem," Jamie said. "Let me know how he's doing. I'll see you later, Kara." She got up and left the apartment.

Max blinked and sat there quietly for several minutes before she got up and walked back into the spare bedroom and sat down in a chair next to the bed and gently took Zack's hand. _God, that was scary. I'm glad that it looks like he's going to be okay, but when I saw him…_ She shuddered and gave Zack's hand a squeeze. His eyes fluttered open. Max frowned. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay, I was awake," Zack assured her. "She said that I'll be okay?"

"Yeah, but we need to do something about your leg," Max said.

"Don't worry about it, I know what to do," Zack said. "It'll be fine for now."

"Okay," Max said. "You scared the hell out of me, Zack. I thought—"

"Maxie, it's okay," Zack assured her. "I'll be fine. I've survived worse."

"I remember," Max said. She brushed some hair out of his eyes. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up in a little bit."

"Okay," Zack said. He looked into Max's eyes. "Thank you, Maxie."

"Anytime, Zack," she said. She watched him close his eyes and curled up in her chair and watched him sleep.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, L80bug, HoneyX5-452, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "411 on the D.L."

"Just give me a second," Max said the next morning to Zack as she paused to get her apartment key out of her pocket. She unlocked the door and opened it and helped Zack inside. "Do you want to lie back down or do you want to watch TV or what?"

"Max, I'm not an invalid," Zack said. He carefully made his way over to her living room couch and sat down, wincing.

Max sighed. "Invalid…maybe not. But you're still in a lot of pain no matter what your tough guy act says. You heard what that doc at the clinic told you. He pretty much said exactly what Jamie did last night. Plus, even when we take into account how fast we heal, those ribs are going to be painful for at least another few days." She took off her jacket and tossed it onto an armchair as she went into the kitchen to get a snack. "I'm still amazed that you found that place."

"It's one of the things I do," Zack said. "While I'm checking out places to relocate one of us, I scout out everything thoroughly, including finding places that will patch up somebody and won't take blood with no questions asked if they're paid enough. I told you before that I liked to visit this city even before I got you settled here so I know every possible aspect of it, including that one."

"That makes sense," Max said. She left the kitchen and sat down next to Zack on the couch and extended the plate that she had been carrying to him. "Want a cracker?"

"Thanks," Zack said.

Max took also grabbed a cracker off the plate and ate it. She swallowed and turned back to Zack. "What were you doing in the area? I thought that you weren't going to be stopping in to check up on me for another few weeks."

"I wasn't," Zack said. "I was taking the long way to…the person that I'm supposed to check up on next. I already called and let them know that I'm going to be delayed for at least a week."

"Oh," Max said. She felt a little annoyed that Zack wouldn't tell her where he'd been heading, but pushed it aside. She suddenly recalled something that Zack had mention when they'd met back up with each other the first time back in Seattle. "Zack, you said that twelve of us made it out. How do you know?"

"More recon," Zack said. "A few days after the escape, once the immediate danger had passed, I went back to the area and hung as close as I could without being detected. I got lucky on that day. I overheard a few of the guards that were on perimeter duty mention a meeting that Lydecker would have to attend the following day. I knew that there was a checkpoint about a mile down the road from Manticore, so I hid myself there the next day and sure enough, a few vehicles approached the checkpoint just after dawn. I managed to stow aboard one of them and when Lydecker arrived at his meeting, I did surveillance. It was pretty much a report to the committee that oversaw Manticore on what had happened the night we left and that's when I found out not only how many got out safely, but who did." He sighed. "Unfortunately, that twelve included me. I wish…"

"I know," Max said quietly. "Have you found the rest of us eleven?"

"No," Zack admitted. "I've found you, Brin…" He paused briefly. "…Tinga, Krit, Zane, Ben, Syl, and Jondy. I still haven't found Angie, Lana, or Duke yet."

Max frowned. "Didn't you pair Duke off with Cody…" She trailed off when she saw the look in Zack's eyes and bit her lip. "Is he dead or did he get recaptured?"

"Recaptured," Zack said. "He and Duke apparently were shot at before they could reach the perimeter fence. Duke wasn't hit and made it over, but Cody was shot in the leg and taken by the TAC team. I wanted to go back for him, and for the others who'd been recaptured as well, but there was no way."

Max, as gently as she could, wrapped her arms around Zack. "You were still a kid, Zack. There wasn't anything that you could have done. I think a lot about what could have been too." She hesitated. "Sometimes, especially during or after a seizure, I feel so guilty. I felt like Eva's death was my fault because I had that damn seizure that night and if I hadn't gotten sick like that, we wouldn't have been in that hallway at that moment and Lydecker wouldn't have killed her in front of us."

"It's not your fault, Maxie," Zack said softly. "It never was and never will be. Something had to give and what happened with you and to Jack just happened to be the breaking point. It was inevitable."

"I know," Max said. "But don't you just hate it when your brain is telling you the wrong thing and your heart is telling you what's right?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "I do." Their eyes met and they felt themselves being drawn towards each other. Their lips had barely brushed each other when Zack suddenly pulled back, wincing. "Damn."

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry," Max said apologetically. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, my ribs are still hurting," Zack said. He looked down for a second before back up at Max.

"Do you want to lie back down in bed?" Max asked.

"You're starting to sound remarkably like Tinga," Zack observed.

"Well, you are a big baby sometimes so I'm not surprised," Max teased. "I'll go get you some ice. I'll be back in a minute." She got up and quickly went back into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic baggie and started to fill it with ice from her freezer, though her thoughts were miles away.

_What was that? Did I really come within a hair of actually kissing Zack? This is too weird. It's Zack! Even if it wasn't Zack, the guy has just been in a stupid motorcycle accident! You are not supposed to kiss injured men. It's not right._ She shook her head. _If it's not right, then how come I feel like my lips are almost tingling from where his only brushed mine, and barely at that? Why am I disappointed that's all that happened? I just…I don't know._

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to HoneyX5-452 and to angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Max jumped off of the bus a few stops short of her usual one on her way back from work, still thinking about what had happened the previous afternoon. _How did that happen? I mean, I know technically how that happened, but why? And why the hell am I sounding like such an idiot even in my own head?_ She shook her head. _This is just crazy._

She walked down the block until she reached an apartment building and just stood there and stared up at it. _Crazy as it might be, it did happen and I've got to deal with it…somehow. I almost-but-not-quite kissed Zack._ She sighed irritably. _What really drives me nuts is how annoyed I am that I only barely kissed him! I know that it's not Zack's fault that his injuries from the accident were bothering him and I know how big of a pain-in-the-ass injuries to the ribs especially are, but it still pisses me off._

Max sat down on the steps. _I wish I knew what the hell is going on. Let's be honest here: I've been having these weird thoughts about Zack for a little while now and I have as much of a clue as to why now as I did when I first started to have them._ She couldn't help laughing to herself a little bit. _I can almost see Tinga standing right in front of me with her arms crossed with that one look on her face, the one that the boys used to call her 'Mommy' look, telling me 'You probably know why you've been having these thoughts, Maxie. You just don't want to admit the reason to yourself yet.' You're most likely right on that one, big sis._

She stood up and went inside the building and up to the elevator. After getting on it, she took it to the sixth floor and got off and walked down the hall until she reached one of the apartments. Max paused for a moment and listened before she knocked on the door. "Jamie? It's Kara. Can I come in?"

"Um, Kara? This isn't a very good time. I'm not feeling very well," Jamie replied in a panicky voice.

"I do that whole Echinacea and vitamin C dealio. I'll take my chances," Max said. She waited for the man who'd just left the apartment a few doors down to walk past her towards the elevators. "Please?" There was a pause before Max heard Jamie get up from where she had been and walk to the front door of the apartment and unlock the door. She opened the door and walked inside. "Thanks. I guess that's why you weren't at work today."

"And why I wasn't at work yesterday," Jamie agreed. She shut the door. "Were you at work then or were you taking care of your friend?"

"Wasn't there yesterday, went today," Max said. "You look kind of flushed."

"I did say that I was sick," Jamie pointed out. She looked slightly annoyed.

"Sorry," Max said. She looked around Jamie's living room. "I've never been inside this place before. Not bad." Something caught her eye and she walked over to the coffee table and picked up a framed photograph. "Why do you have some random photograph of Niagara Falls on your coffee table?"

"It came with the frame," Jamie said. "I liked the frame and I didn't have any pictures to put in it, so I left it the way it is."

Max nodded. "You don't have any pictures of anything else? What about your family?"

"Nothing," Jamie said quickly. "I'm sorry, Kara. I tend to get a little snappy when I'm not feeling 100 percent."

"Name one person who doesn't," Max replied.

"Yeah," Jamie said. "Speaking of which, how is your friend doing?"

"He's doing fine," Max said. "He's crashing in my guest room bed and probably watching something on TV right about now." _Zack watching TV…yeah, right!_

"Fine…yeah…" Jamie said slowly. She shook her head. "Don't mind me. I think this bug that I've got is messing with me head. Anyway, remind me to stop in on you to check up on him once I'm feeling better. I wish I—never mind." Jamie started to pace restlessly around the living room.

_Something about her behavior is familiar, but what is it?_ Max shook the feeling off and nodded. "Yeah, no problem. He won't mind." She watched in amusement as Jamie paced the length of the room. "Are you really sick or are you just on the mother of all sugar highs?"

"I wish that I was on the mother of all sugar highs," Jamie said. "I can't stand being sick like this at all. I just want this to be over with!" She made an irritated noise. "Ugh! What can I do, though? Not a damn thing." She flopped down on the couch. "I can't do a single thing for the next d—however long this is going to last."

"Maybe you shouldn't even be up if you're feeling this bad," Max said teasingly.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Kara. I really don't think that I'm that sick."

"No, you claim that you're sick as hell…" Max continued in the same tone of voice. She walked up to Jamie and put a hand to her forehead. Sure enough, Jamie felt much too warm. "Let's take your temperature and see just how bad you are." She walked off to Jamie's bathroom.

"If you use the rectal thermometer, I swear that I'll kill you," Jamie yelled after her.

Max laughed. "Do you even have one?"

"I don't know. I think one might have come with the first aid kit that I've got in the kitchen," Jamie said.

Max just shook her head. _She's something else._ She opened the medicine cabinet and took out a regular digital thermometer and went back into the living room. "Now, open your mouth like a good little girl."

"Kiss my ass like a good little girl," Jamie retorted, but she opened her mouth and let Max stick the thermometer in. They waited for several minutes before Max took it back out and looked at the reading.

"Holy shit, Jamie, you've got a temperature of 102.8 degrees," Max said.

Jamie raised an eyebrow. "The thermometer's in Celsius, Kara. How did you know the temp in Fahrenheit?"

"I must have done these calculations so many times in chemistry in school that it's second nature to me now," Max lied quickly. She gauged Jamie's reaction and mentally relaxed when she saw that Jamie had appeared to have bought her lie. "Regardless of which form of measurement used, you have got a relatively high fever and you really do need to get your ass in bed."

"I told you that I was this sick," Jamie said. She stuck her tongue out at Max.

"Okay, you were right," Max said. "Get your ass in bed." She looked at the clock on Jamie's DVD player. "I should be getting back to my place now anyway."

"I will," Jamie said. "Thanks for stopping by. Tell your beaut—" Again, Jamie shook her head. "Tell your buddy that I said hi."

"I will," Max said. She left the apartment, frowning. _That was odd. Then again, I don't get sick like an ordinary human does so how would I know how they would react? _She shrugged and headed back to her own apartment building.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, HoneyX5-452, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support! Don't worry, Zack will be back in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

"Need anything else?" Max asked Zack from her kitchen the following night.

"I'm fine, Max," Zack said. "Honest."

"I know, I'm sorry," Max said. She walked back into the living room and sat down next to Zack and hit play on her DVD player remote. "I wish that you had more here to do while I'm at work. I know that you're not just some sick little kid and all, but I still kind of feel like I should have more available for you, ya know?"

Zack shrugged. "I know. You really don't have to worry about it. I can't even begin to count the number of times when I would be someplace by myself with nobody around, or at least nobody that even a normal person would want around them, in a place that a normal person would want to be nowhere near. Compared to that, this is a dream come true." He shifted a little and looked at Max. "Besides, I've always got something to think about."

Max couldn't help blushing. "Yeah." She and Zack both looked up when her doorbell rang. Max paused the movie again and got up and went over to the door and looked through the peephole. "Hey, Jamie. What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd stop in and see how your friend was doing," Jamie said. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, we were just watching a movie," Max said. She unlocked the door and opened it and let Jamie inside. "Jamie, I would like you to meet my friend Mark. Mark, this is Jamie, the friend of mine that was with me when we found you after your accident. I've told you about her."

"Pleasure to meet you," Zack said politely.

"Nice to meet you, too," Jamie said. She looked Zack up and down and grinned. "You look a lot better than when I first saw you a few days ago."

Max glared at Jamie for a second before she caught herself and took a deep breath. "Like I said, we were just watching a movie. Do you want anything, Jamie? Soda, chips…?" _Blow to the head with a blunt object?_

"No, I'm fine," Jamie said. She sat down in a chair. "So, Mark, where do you know Kara from?"

"We grew up together," Zack said. "We lived in the same neighborhood back in Winnipeg and we kept in touch after she and her family moved away to Vancouver."

"Are the two of you close?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah, we're close," Max said, sitting back down next to Zack and restarting the movie. She smiled teasingly at Zack. "That's how I know things like how this big baby here is afraid of hospitals."

"He doesn't look like a big baby," Jamie said. She gave Zack another appraising look. "I'd say that he looks like a big boy to me."

Max took a deep breath as she tried to control her temper. "I _know_ that he's a grown up, Jamie. I don't need you to tell me that."

"Wow, somebody's awfully touchy today," Jamie said, grinning. "Relax, Kara." She leaned back in her chair. "What is this?"

"Some dumb B movie that was made in the States Post-Pulse," Max said. "I was told that it was one of those 'cult classic' type of flicks. It's pretty much about this guy who thinks he's some Superman-type hero and how he tries to save this even dumber girl named Angela that he thinks is his girlfriend or something." She grew quiet for a moment. _Angela…Angie. I remember how she said that she wanted Angie as her name because of that one nurse who told her that she had the face of an angel. And Lana…Zane had named her for one of the characters from those Superman comics or movies. I miss them and Zane and the others._

"Kara?"

Max turned to Zack. "Yeah?"

"You spaced out," he said.

"Sorry about that," Max said. "I was just thinking." She exchanged a look with him and smiled when Zack squeezed her hand in understanding. She looked at the TV again and rolled her eyes. "This is really lame."

"Nah, it's pretty funny," Jamie said. "You really need to suspend your disbelief here." She laughed. "This character is so delusional that it's amazing."

Zack looked at the screen skeptically. "I don't know. I find his delusions to be incomprehensible."

"Loosen up, Mark," Jamie said. "You're as bad as my older brother." She paused and then she shook her head. "Mind boggling." She looked thoughtful. "So, how are you doing? Has your leg or your ribs been bothering you too badly?"

"It could have been worse," Zack said. "I'm in some pain, but nothing that I can't handle."

Jamie nodded. "That's good." She grinned flirtatiously at him. "You look like the type that can handle anything and everything. Are you?"

"Time out here," Max said abruptly.

"Excuse me?" Jamie said curiously.

"I'm sorry, Jamie," Max said. "But Mark doesn't need to be interrogated like this."

Jamie frowned. "I'm not interrogating him, Kara. I was only asking him how he was doing and I agreed with him when he said that he could handle pain. Is that a crime?"

"Let me check," Max snapped.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Jamie said. "You've morphed into a mega-bitch since I got here and I haven't done a damn thing different than any of the other times that we've hung out. The only thing that I can think of that's different is Mark's presence."

"Wow, you're smart," Max said. "Has anybody ever told you that it's in bad taste to flirt with somebody who's injured the way that he is?"

"Who died and said that you could make up all the rules?" Jamie said. "He's banged up a little and he has broken ribs and a broken ankle. It's not like he's covered in bandages from head to toe or he's horribly disfigured." She glanced quickly at Zack out of the corner of her eye. "Now that would be a shame."

Max clenched her fists. "Jamie, for the love of God, shut up before I do something that I'll regret."

"Get a grip on yourself," Jamie said.

Zack winced, though it wasn't from his injuries. _Here come the claws._ "Can the two of you both quiet down? I'm trying to watch the movie."

Max sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start arguing with Jamie."

"Me too. I'm sorry," Jamie said. "No hard feelings?"

"Not yet," Max agreed. _Keep looking at Zack like that and I'll do a number on you that would scare the crap out of Lydecker._ She caught herself and mentally shook her head. _After that, I'll stop at the nearest mental health clinic or hospital. _She tried to push her thoughts aside and the three of them settled down and continued to watch the movie.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to MoonAngel23, loversfoul, angelofdarkness78, HoneyX5-452, calistra, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support! To all of you who were wondering about Jamie, all I will say is to stay tuned! ;) Thank you all so much again!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Max and Jamie got off of the bus in front of Max's apartment building a few days later laughing. "I can't believe he had the nerve to say that in the meeting," Max said as she pressed the button for the elevator. "What drugs was he on when he called her that?"

"I don't know, but it was pretty damn funny," Jamie said as she wiped a tear from one of her eyes. They got in the elevator and Jamie shook her head as she pressed the button for Max's floor. "I absolutely loved the look on her face afterwards. The shade of red that it turned was a nice touch." They got out of the elevator and walked over to the apartment and Max let them in. "Too bad that Chris from billing got them to calm down. It would have been really good if they'd continued to go at it."

"I don't doubt it for a sec," Max agreed. "Hey, Mark, we're back."

"Hey, Kara," Zack said, making his way into the living room. He nodded to Jamie. "Hello, Jamie."

Jamie smiled flirtatiously. "Hey, Mark. You're looking pretty good."

"Jamie," Max said warningly.

Zack glanced at Max out of the corner of his eye, feeling strangely pleased at her reaction. "My ribs feel much better. I get them and the leg checked out again in two days. Kara, do you know what we're doing for dinner tonight?"

"Men, always about food," Max said teasingly, though she felt her stomach flutter when Zack had said 'we're.' "I was planning on just getting a pizza. I'm not in the mood to actually cook anything tonight."

"Sounds good to me," Zack said. He nodded to Max and Jamie and then went back into the guest bedroom.

"That takes me back," Jamie said. "When I was growing up, it seemed like all my brothers wanted to do was eat."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Brothers? You never mentioned that you have more than one."

"Yeah," Jamie said. She looked thoughtful for a moment before she sighed and turned back to Max. "I've got a twin brother. Damn, I miss him." She saw the look that Max was giving her and she smiled a little. "He's got some job down in the States. I've seen Brett about as often as I've seen Brian. Brett's my twin, Brian's my older brother."

"Brian and Brett?" Max said, amused. "It sounds like those two are twins."

"Yeah, go figure that one out," Jamie said, interrupting Max's chain of thought. She sat down in a chair. "Man, I am hungry. You got anything decent to eat around here?"

"Well, I think I finally figured out why you're friends with me," Max said dryly. "It's my usually fully-stocked fridge."

"I can't help it if you're as big of a pig as I am," Jamie said. She grinned and laughed. "Seriously, do you have anything to munch on? I haven't eaten since lunch."

"It's called waiting another hour when you're back at your own apartment and eating dinner," Max said. This time, both of them laughed. "I've got a few things to snack on. What do you want?"

"Mark," Jamie said half-jokingly.

Immediately, the smile on Max's face disappeared and she glared at Jamie. "Sorry, he's not on the menu."

"Oh, will you fucking lighten up?" Jamie said, exasperated. "It was a joke. I know that you are aware of what those are, Kara, so drop the bitch act sometime in the immediate future. All I did was say that I find Mark to be exceptionally good-looking. Besides, it's not as if he said that he was taken."

"But it's not as if he said that he wasn't taken, either," Max said immediately. She mentally shook her head. _What's gotten into you?_

"Oh, so this is what this is about," Jamie said. "You've got a crush on Mark, too."

"I never said that," Max said.

"It's practically written all over your face, Kara," Jamie said. "If you do, I guess that's cool, but it's not like you're doing anything about it."

"That's because I don't think of Mark like that, Jamie," Max said through gritted teeth, though she found herself unable to quite look Jamie directly in the eye. "However, that doesn't mean that I can't feel that the way that you look at him, talk about him, and act around him is disgusting and bordering on skank whore."

Jamie's eyes widened. "Excuse me? Skank whore? Where the hell have you been? I have not been acting anywhere even remotely close to that and you damn well know that. You know what? If I'm acting like the whore that you're apparently insisting that I am, then you are acting like an immature little brat who's whining about not getting her favorite Barbie doll for Christmas."

"Get real, Jamie," Max snapped. "I'm acting like a friend who's concerned for Mark's well-being." Her right hand twitched and she immediately hid it behind her back, grasping it tightly with her other hand as her heart suddenly skipped a beat. _Hell no! I don't need this on top of all this crap!_

Jamie looked at Max, concerned. "Are you okay, Kara?"

"I'm fine," Max insisted. "I'm just a little frustrated."

Jamie snorted. "Yeah, you and me both. I thought that you would have more sense that to act like this."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Max yelled. "You know, this is stupid and it's only going to end up going around in damn circles, so I'll just finish it right now: you are being a complete inconsiderate, skanky bitch and if I ever see you acting that way again, I'll—" Max stopped suddenly when she felt a tremor pass through her. She took in a shaky breath. _Oh, shit. I better be able to get to my tryptophan before it really hits._

"Kara?" Jamie said uncertainly.

"I said that I was—" Max suddenly collapsed to the floor, seizing violently.

"Kara!"

* * *

Zack sat on the bed and sighed, his gaze drifting towards the bedroom door. _Get with it, soldier and face the facts. You need to let her know. I love Maxie so much, but how the hell am I supposed to tell her?_ He frowned. _Okay, I technically know how to say the words 'I love you,' but it's not that simple._ Zack snorted. _If Tinga was here, she'd be insisting that it is this simple. If it were Zane, Krit, Duke, or the rest of my brothers, they'd tell me to get my shit together. Krit and Duke would probably at least try to slap me upside the head, too. I want to let her know, I really do._

"That's because I don't think of Mark like that, Jamie. However, that doesn't mean that I can't feel the way that the way that you look at him, talk about him, and act around him is disgusting and bordering on skank whore."

Zack caught the edginess in Max's voice and a faint smile came across his face. _I know that voice. Jondy used to call it Max's 'I'm-in-denial' voice. Maybe, just maybe…_

"Excuse me? Skank whore? Where the hell have you been? I have not been acting anywhere even remotely close to that and you damn well know that. You know what? If I'm acting like the whore that you're apparently insisting that I am, then you are acting like an immature little brat who's whining about not getting her favorite Barbie doll for Christmas."

_Jamie need to cool down,_ Zack thought. He frowned as his thoughts drifted to the other young woman. _Something about Jamie is off. I swear that I've seen her before, she looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place the face. I just don't get it. I can count the times that this has happened to me on one hand and it gets me every single time. I'll figure it out eventually._

"I'm fine. I'm just a little frustrated."

"Yeah, you and me both. I thought that you would have more sense that to act like this."

_Bad move, Jamie. Max is not going to like that one._

Max's reaction didn't disappoint Zack. "What exactly is that supposed to mean? You know, this is stupid and it's only going to end up going around in damn circles, so I'll just finish it right now: you are being a complete inconsiderate, skanky bitch and if I ever see you acting that way again, I'll—"

"Kara?"

_Damnit, something's wrong._ As quickly as he could, Zack got up and reached for his crutches.

"I said that I was—" There was a soft thud and Zack felt his heart jump into his throat. He barely registered Jamie's panicked yell of Max's alias as he somehow managed to practically fly into the living room. He nearly panicked himself at the sight of Max seizing on the floor before the commander in him took control. He quickly glanced over at Jamie, who was as white as a sheet and staring at Max in shock.

"Jamie, Kara has medication. It's in the bathroom underneath the sink." Jamie remained frozen in place.

"Oh my God, oh my God…" she whispered.

"Jamie, move!" Zack commanded. He winced internally at how harsh he had sounded, but it seemed to snap Jamie out of it and almost before he knew it, she was handing him Max's bottle of tryptophan. Zack quickly opened the bottle and shook out several pills and held them to Max's mouth. "Come on, open your mouth for me so you can swallow them."

"I—I'll—" Max attempted to keep her mouth open long enough to take the medication, but couldn't quite do it and began to seize even harder.

Zack was barely able to restrain his panic. _No!_ "Jamie, try to hold her mouth open long enough for me to give her the medication. Jamie nodded and gently opened Max's mouth and held it in that position long enough for Zack to place the tryptophan inside. She and Zack watched tensely as Max swallowed the tryptophan shakily and continued to seize in Zack's arms until the tremors finally started to die down a minute or two later.

Max blinked up at Zack, still slightly dazed. "I'm—"

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Zack immediately assured her. "Get some rest. You need as much of it as you can get." He watched Max close her eyes and when he was sure that she had fallen asleep, he leaned in as whispered into her ear softly enough that even another X5 would have had a hard time hearing him. "I love you, Maxie." He brought his hand up to move a stray lock of hair away from Max's face when the sound of somebody crying quietly caught his attention and he looked up to see a still shaken Jamie sitting on the couch. "Jamie, can you do me a favor and get Kara into her room and into her bed?" Jamie immediately nodded, wiped her eyes, got up off of the couch, and walked over to Max and picked her up. Zack carefully got up and made his way over to the couch and sat down where Jamie had been only moments before and put his head in his hands.

_My God, I haven't seen any of us seize that hard in years. Why didn't I see that one coming? I'm normally so good about that._ He sighed. _Well, you weren't exactly with her at work all day. You did everything that you could have done and you know it and because of that, Max is going to be fine. Get your head together, soldier, and move on. She'll be fine!_

"Hey," Jamie said quietly.

Zack looked up and saw her standing in front of him. "Hey, Jamie."

"Mind if I sit here?" Jamie asked.

"No, go ahead," Zack said.

Jamie sat down and sighed. "Mark, I just…I want to apologize for a few things. I'm sorry if I was being a little too obvious flirting with you over the past couple of days. Kara's right, I shouldn't have been quite as obvious. I'm normally pretty good with the whole subtlety deal, but not when it comes to guys." She chuckled.

"I understand," Zack said. "Apology accepted, Jamie, but…"

"I know," Jamie said. She managed a smile. "I know when to bow out gracefully." At Zack's surprised expression, she laughed a little. "I saw the way that you were looking at Kara. You're madly in love with her. It's painfully obvious now."

"You don't mind?" Zack asked cautiously.

"Not at all," Jamie said. "Maybe I'm annoyed a little bit, but whatever I was starting to feel towards you is obviously nothing compared to the way that you seem to feel about Kara. What I was feeling was mostly if not all lust, anyway. It's fine."

"Thank you," Zack said.

"You're welcome," Jamie replied. She stared ahead of her and sighed, the look on her face clearly troubled.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" Zack asked.

"I don't know, Mark," Jamie said honestly. "I really don't. I remember a few years ago when I was working as a paramedic, two of the calls that I went out on were for a seizing epileptic. On one of them, the patient was still seizing when we'd gotten there and on the second, that patient had stopped but started again after we'd arrived. It was a little nerve-wracking, how can it not be, but I was able to deal with it. I definitely didn't freeze like a deer caught in headlights. But watching Kara just now…" She shivered and grew thoughtful. "I don't know. I guess it's harder when it's a close friend." Jamie closed her eyes for a few moments. "I just couldn't do anything. I hadn't felt that helpless in years."

"I know the feeling," Zack said. They were both quiet again for a few minutes before Jamie got up off of the couch.

"I should get going," she said. "I'll come by tomorrow sometime to check up on Kara. Maybe I'll call, too. I'll see you around."

Zack nodded and started to reply, but something in his field of vision caught his attention. "Your hair."

"Huh?" Jamie said, confused. She saw Zack point to the top of her head and she laughed. "Oh yeah, I've got to touch up my roots again. As if you couldn't tell, I'm not a natural blond." She nodded to Zack and left the apartment. Zack just stared at the door for a few moments before he got up and made his way into Max's room, pulling up a chair and sitting down at her side for the rest of the night.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

Two days later…

"Are you okay?" Zack asked Max as she walked into the guest bedroom.

Max sighed. "Zack, for the ten millionth time, I've been fine for the past day-and-a-half at least. I slept like mad after I had that seizure and I've been feeling pretty good ever since. Don't worry about me." She gestured to his left leg, which was out of a cast for the first time in about a week. "Have you been walking around a little since we got back here?"

"Yeah, the leg's all right," Zack said. "I can walk on it just fine. I'd still want to wait another day before I do any kind of fighting on it, but I don't plan on having to fight anybody in the next twenty-four hours. I should be as good as new by then."

"Cool," Max said. She hesitated. "When are you going to continue on to whichever poor sucker is next?" She attempted to sound teasing, but her voice faltered almost imperceptibly. _I wish that he didn't have to leave. I haven't felt this happy since I was nine._

"I don't know. Probably in two days," Zack replied. He shrugged. "I'd leave tomorrow, but I've got one or two things that I want to get done here first. I would like to say good-bye to Jamie, though, and thank her for helping you with me the night of my accident and for helping me the other day with you and your seizure." He hesitated slightly and Max caught it.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Zack said honestly. He looked at Max and decided to change the subject. "I'm going to need to find a new bike before I leave. Maybe we can do that together late tonight."

"Oh? Is that a date?" Max teased, though she felt her heart rate speed up.

Zack looked somewhat flustered. "No…I mean, it's—"

Max laughed. "Relax, Zack, it's okay. I was only teasing." _Then why do I feel this weird?_

"I know," Zack said. He quickly recovered his composure. "I should pick up an air cast or something for when I see Jamie to say good-bye and thank her for everything she's done. I don't want her to get suspicious."

Max nodded. "That's a good idea." She started to turn around to leave the room but found herself hesitating.

"Maxie?" Zack said. "What is it?"

"You've got me," Max muttered. "You're not the only one who has half a clue as to what's going on in their own head." She managed a smile. "I just…" She sighed and walked over and sat down next to Zack on the edge of the bed. They were both quiet for a few moments before Max spoke up again. "Have you ever wished that uncomfortable silences could have a face and a body so that you could either punch or strangle them?"

"All of the time," Zack said. "Max, I—" Max's phone suddenly rang, cutting him off.

Max swore. "Damn." She started to get up to get it when she heard the answering machine pick it up and then sighed in relief a moment later. "Nobody important. Just a reminder to return the movies that I rented last week." She turned back to Zack. "What were you going to say, Zack?"

Zack took a deep breath. "Max, I wan—" He was cut off again, this time by the ringing of the doorbell. He put his head in his hands, exasperated. _Not again. As if this isn't hard enough._

"Why is it always impossible to have a decent conversation with anybody?" Max grumbled. "You know what? Screw it. If it's important, then they can come back later. What is it, Zack?"

_Forget saying it. _Zack turned to Max and kissed her softly on the lips. Max almost squeaked in surprise, but quickly found herself responding to the kiss. They remained like that for several minutes until both of them had to breath again. Zack looked into Max's eyes. "That was what I wanted to say. Maxie, I just…I've never loved you just like a sister. You always will be my best friend no matter what happens, but first and foremost…I love you. I've loved you for years."

"Oh my God," Max said softly. She was blown away. _He loves me? He actually is in love with me and that whole dealio? Is this really happening? _"That's…Zack, I just…" She took a deep breath. "This is unreal. I never expected this."

"I don't want to force you, but I had to let you know how I felt," Zack said.

Max smirked. "And my seizure was a big mental kick in the ass for you, huh?"

Zack found himself smiling at her. "Yeah, something along those lines."

"Wow," Max said. She looked at Zack almost as if she was seeing him for the first time. Everything that she had ever felt towards him, every memory that he was a part of, from the time she had been introduced into her family when she'd been a toddler up until their kiss, just passed in front of her eyes. _He's always been there. Zack's always the one that I went to first for something, even more than Krit or Jondy or Tinga. He was always the one who comforted me first after a bad seizure or when those sadists would experiment on me. He was the first one to congratulate me when I would beat everybody on the obstacle course or had the highest score on the range. Zack could always cheer me up, not like the way that Krit or Jondy or some of the others would do by telling jokes or making funny remarks, but just by smiling at me or looking at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his…I just love him so much…holy shit!_ "Zack, I love you too."

Zack's eyes widened. "You do?"

"I do," Max said softly. She smiled. "I've never lied to you about anything important before and I never intend to start doing that. The only thing that I intend to start doing is this." She leaned in and kissed him.

"Me too," Zack agreed when they finally parted. "So…what do we do know?"

"I don't know," Max said. "We'll figure it out together." She reached over and took Zack's hand in hers. _Zack and me…together…wow._

TBC


	10. Chapter 10a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters.

"He really kissed you?" Jamie asked as she and Max walked down the street the following afternoon. "Mark really planted a nice wet one on your lips?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it a nice wet one," Max said. She blushed a little bit as she recalled the kiss. "I would refer to it more as a nice, soft, tender, yet passionate kiss with all kinds of electricity, but yes. Mark did kiss me."

Jamie squealed and jumped a little. "I knew it! I knew you guys had the hots for each other."

"We've got something," Max conceded. "I'm not exactly sure if either of us knows exactly what it is at this point. Mark in particular seemed a little bit thrown for a loop, but that's how he is, you know? Knows exactly what to do in the most extreme of circumstances, but when it comes to women he usually gets as tongue-tied as anything" She grinned. "He wants something. He definitely wants to take whatever it is that we've got farther, but he's got to let his brain settle down a little bit." Max laughed a little. "Not too much, though."

"I hear you," Jamie agreed.

"Does this mean that you're definitely not going after Mark anymore, Jamie?" Max teased.

Jamie stuck her tongue out at Max, but then she laughed. "You're hysterical, Kara."

"Good to know," Max said cheerfully.

"Now all I need to do is find myself a man," Jamie said. "Easier said than done."

"Yeah, it's not like any of the men that work at the company with us are real prizes," Max said. "The ones that could be called boyfriend material are already somebody's significant other and even then, I've got my doubts about them."

"I hear ya," Jamie said. She stretched her arms out, just missing hitting Max.

"Thanks a lot," Max said.

"You're always welcome," Jamie said. "Oh, I was thinking about maybe having a party at my apartment next week. Would you be interesting in coming?"

"I'll think about it," Max said. "As long as that horn dog friend of yours who lives down the hall from you doesn't show up, I'll most likely be there."

"Just tell him that you have a guy and he'll back off," Jamie said. She grinned wickedly. "You could even bring Mark himself. I bet even with a cast on his leg, he could intimidate the hell out of the guy."

Max laughed. _I don't doubt that for a nanosecond! You should have been there the time when I was seven and Zack came back to the barracks after those bastard doctors broke his collarbone and right arm just for fun and he still managed to practically make Krit, Richie, Ben, and Cody piss in their pants after he caught them trying to pull a welcome back prank!_ "Mark can definitely intimidate the hell out of people when he wants to. Even back when we were kids, he could scare people like nobody else."

"Some people have that gift," Jamie said. "Brian was like that. Brett, on the other hand, was a complete opposite of Brian most of the time. He had his serious moments, but he like to laugh and joke every chance that he got. He had—has, really—the craziest sense of humor sometimes. We both do. Damn, I miss him."

"Maybe he'll get some time off of his job and you'll be able to see him," Max suggested.

"I hope so," Jamie said. She grew quiet for a few moments before she smiled again. "I just gotta keep hoping."

"Wow, you're turning into such an optimist," Max said in mock surprise. "I'm shocked."

"I do what I can," Jamie said. She ran a little ahead of Max, but then she turned her head around so that she could face her. "Which reminds me, wasn't it you who said back when we—hey, watch it, you mor—" She froze suddenly. Max frowned and ran up to where Jamie was sitting on the sidewalk after having bumped into somebody.

"What's going on?" she asked. Max looked down at Jamie and frowned again. Jamie was staring wide-eyed in absolute shock at the person in front of her and was as white as a sheet. "Jamie, you look like you've seen a ghost." She turned to look at the other person. It was a young man about Jamie's age, slightly older than Max. He was tall and had brown hair, but what threw Max for a loop was his clear resemblance to Jamie._ Could this be one of her brothers? If it is, why would she react like this? And why the hell do I think I know this guy from somewhere? It's not just the face, I mean it is, but I could swear that I've actually met him before!_

"Zane?" Jamie finally whispered.

"What!" Max yelled.

"What's going on here?" Max, Jamie, and the mystery man turned to look to see Zack standing behind Max. Max watched in surprise as the young man's face became sheepish and even slightly frightened.

"Um…hey, bro," he said. "I didn't know that you were in Toronto."

Max's jaw hit the floor. _Holy shit, that is Zane! I'd know that look on his face anywhere. But how does Jamie…unless…_

"Bro?" Jamie said uncertainly. She looked up at Zack and blinked, her eyes wide. "Zack?"

It hit Max and Zack at the same time like a ton of bricks. "Lana?"

TBC


	11. Chapter 10b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Jamie—Lana—just stared at Max and Zack for several long moments, unable to say anything. "I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" she finally said.

"I would say so," Zane said dryly.

Zack shot Zane a look and shook his head. "I think that we should move this inside and out of the public. Max's apartment is closest." At this, Lana did another double take, but refrained from saying anything as the four X5s walked quickly towards Max's building. Once they were inside and in the apartment, they stood around staring at each other. "Where have you been all this time, Lana?"

Suddenly, Lana's face grew angry and she swung out and punched Zack in the face. Zack had managed to see it coming at the last second and twisted to get out of the way, but he still caught enough of it to make him steady himself. "You fucking asshole! You want to talk about where I've been for the past eleven years, how about we talk about where the hell you have been all of that time, huh? Why the hell haven't you found me before now?"

"It wasn't for a lack of trying," Zack said, glaring at her.

"Real nice, Lana," Max said. "Punch a guy who has just recovered from a nasty motorcycle wreck."

"Get bent, Max," Lana snapped. "If I really wanted to physically hurt him, then I would have swung for his side or kicked him in the left leg. While we're on the subject, why the hell didn't you tell me who you were when we first met at work after I'd gotten into the city almost two months ago?"

"Probably for similar reasons why you didn't tell me who you were when we met up again," Max retorted. "It _has_ been about eleven years since the last time we saw each other, not to mention that dye job of yours."

"Well, I thought that blonds had more fun," Lana said sarcastically. She gave Zack an evil look. "Though, from the looks of things, I might have to re-think that one."

"Okay, time out," Zane said. "You guys all need to cool off big time." Max just stared at him for a few moments before she began to crack up.

Lana looked at Max, puzzled. "What's up with that?"

Max tried to compose herself. "I'm sorry, but you know that we really are being ridiculous when Zane of all people is the voice of reason." She started laughing again and this time, Lana joined her and after another moment, so did Zane.

"You're all crazy," Zack said.

"And now things are back to normal," Zane said.

"Speaking of which," Zack said. "What are you doing here in Toronto, Zane?"

Zane shrugged. "I was feeling a little bit restless and I wasn't sure exactly when you'd be finally getting in to check up on me, so I decided to take a mini-vacation. I was going to call you by tomorrow at the latest to let you know. Honest."

"Bullshit," Lana coughed.

"We'll debate on that one later," Zack said. "The fact still stands that there are currently four X5s in this city and that's three too many."

"Oh, here comes the C.O. crap," Max snapped. "Good grief, Zack. Zane, as far as we know, is only in Toronto temporarily and let me point out to you that Lana and I have not only been in the same city for awhile, but for the duration of that time, we didn't have a damn clue who the other was and there's a good chance that if we hadn't randomly ran into Zane on the street, that we could have gone a lot longer before finding out about each other. If we could fool each other, then I would say that we've got at worst a fighting chance of not being caught by Lydecker's peeps. Not to mention that even if they did catch onto the two of us, we're in a different country and it would still take even Lydecker at least forty-eight ours after he's I.D.ed us to clear through whatever red tape that he would have to get around in order to bring us back to Manticore and that would give us the time that we would need to evac out of here. You know damn well that I'm right."

"Besides, it's not like we're sharing an apartment," Lana pointed out. "We might work at the same company, but we're in different departments. We're being as careful as we can be considering that we're in the same city, big brother."

Zack nodded. "You two have got a point," he reluctantly conceded. He sighed. "Fine, the two of you can stay here in Toronto at least for the time being. As for Zane, I want you to get out of this city and back to your current location immediately."

"Hell no," Lana said immediately. "For crying out loud, he's my twin. As much as I've missed all of you, and God knows that I have, do you have any idea what's it's been like not to have seen Zane in so long? I know that I would have known somehow if he'd been killed at some point along the road, but it's still been hell for me not knowing how he was doing of if…if he'd been re-captured or what. I'm sorry if you can't understand what I'm feeling right now considering you've most likely seen all or at least almost the whole gang, but Zane is not going anywhere until we've had a chance to decently catch up on each other's lives."

"Don't deny me this, Zack," Zane said. "Don't you dare." Max didn't say anything, but it was clear that she was in full support of Lana and Zane.

"All right," Zack said. "We'll re-evaluate this situation in the morning." He sighed again.

Max's expression softened. "I bet this was why you didn't pair Zane and Lana together in the escape, huh? So they wouldn't be able to gang up on you in an argument." She smiled and kissed Zack. Lana looked at them for a moment before she made a disgusted face.

"Oh, gross," she said. "Ew, ew, ew! Sick!"

"Grow up, Lana," Max said.

"Not the two of you smooching, though a PDA wasn't totally necessary," Lana said. She pointed at Zack. "I can't believe that I was actually crushing on you! That whole time, I thought that you were some random friend of Max's and you were really you. Gross!"

Zane laughed. "Ha, sucked to be you, sis."

"Lana?" Zack asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Angie?"

Lana looked stricken. "She…she's…dead." She almost stumbled over to the couch and sat down and put her head in her hands. Zane immediately sat down on one side of her and Max sat down on Lana's other side. Zack pulled up a chair in front of her. All of them looked shocked.

"How did it happen?" Max asked. "When?"

"About eight years ago, so I would have been about sixteen at the time," Lana recalled. "I was still in the States, I didn't move up here to Canada until I was twenty-one. Angie and I were living on the East coast at the time, out in the Boston area. One Sunday afternoon, Angie had a date with some guy that she'd met at her job and I felt like staying in our apartment so she went out and I remember I'd turned on the TV and I was watching when I heard shots outside. I could tell that they'd come from down the street and I knew that had been the direction that Angie had been walking in when she'd left our apartment, so I got out there and I went over to the scene as quickly as I could without attracting attention and sure enough when I'd gotten there…" Lana couldn't continue.

"How could Angie have gotten hit?" Zane wondered.

"I don't know," Lana said. "Maybe it was just a lucky ricochet that caught her. I know that it wasn't Manticore because I couldn't see any of their guys or any X-series around and even if it was, I figured that they would want to try to take us alive if they could, not in a crowded street in the middle of the city and in the middle of the day. Bad tactics and all of that. By the time that I had gotten to the scene, some cops were already there and I wasn't able to get to Angie's body without suspicion. I knew that I had to get it out of the area not just so that Manticore wouldn't get wise to my location, but just to spite the bastards."

"That's what you eventually did?" Zack guessed.

"Yeah," Lana said. "I found out which hospital they'd taken Angie's body to and that night I snuck in. First I wiped their systems clean of any record of Angie. I'm no Cody, but I think I did a good job." She winced. "I was too late in a way because after I'd finished, I could hear Lydecker and company closing in. I had barely enough time to get the body and make a clean getaway. I gave Angie as good of a sendoff as I could manage and I cremated her."

They were all quiet for several minutes while they thought of their dead sister. Zack was the first to take a deep breath and to wipe his eyes. "Lana, I am so sorry that I didn't find you, and Angie, before. I wish that I could have done something."

"I know," Lana said. "I don't think there would have been anything that you could have done that I didn't do. It was just really horrible luck." She shook her head. "It took me awhile to realize that, no doubt. I used to beat myself up about it all of the time."

Zane gave Lana's shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, don't worry about it now. We're here."

"I know," Lana said. She smiled. "I know."

A cell phone rang and Zack reached into his pocket. He looked at the number, frowned, and gestured to the other three before leaving the room to take the call. Once he was out of the living room, Max turned back to Lana. "So, what else have you been doing? Were you really a paramedic for awhile?"

"Yeah, I really was," Lana said. "I was living out in Michigan somewhere between East Lansing and Detroit for three years or so, from when I was around eighteen to two months before I moved up to Saskatchewan, where I first lived in Canada. I might not have been the field med in our family, but I did have as much training in that area as Zack, Zane, and Tinga do and I figured it would be a good chance to brush up on that particular skill set, not to mention be interesting. I was right, it was a pretty cool job. I hated having to leave it when I thought that Lydecker might have been getting wise to my location, but I did what I had to do." She grinned. "You saw it for yourself, Maxie, that work did come in handy."

"Yes, it did," Max agreed. "I can't thank you enough for being there the night that Zack wrecked his bike."

"I'm glad I was there, especially now that I know that it was our big brother," Lana said. She grinned wickedly. "Of course, he's not so much of a _brother_ to you, now is he?"

Zane gave a grin that matched his sister's. "Zack and Max hooked up? Oh, sweet!"

"Barely," Max said. "I mean, we only really kissed for the first time yesterday and we're still figuring out the exact specifics of this whole dealio, but yes, we are a couple now." She smiled happily. "Thank goodness."

"Ooooh, you are so in love," Lana teased.

"So what if I am?" Max said. "It's great. In fact, you should find somebody so that you—" She stopped suddenly when Zack walked back into the room and she saw the expression on his face. "What's going on?"

"Get whatever gear you've got," he said, all business. He shouldered the duffel bag that he was carrying. "Zane, if you've got anything on you, take it. Lana, we're stopping at your apartment next for anything useful that you've got and then we're heading to Portland. Tinga's in trouble." Without any hesitation, Max and Zane quickly grabbed some things and then all four of them left the apartment.

TBC


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Hit A Sista Back."

Max, Zack, Lana, and Zane sighed in relief when they finally made to a motel on the outskirts of Portland. After Zack and Zane dropped their stuff of in their room, the four of them sat together on one of the beds in Max and Lana's room. "Here's the situation," Zack said grimly. "Tinga believes that Manticore knows her location and she and her family are being watched."

"Her family?" Lana repeated.

"Yes, family," Zack said. "She has a husband and a four-year-old son, which is probably the reason why they haven't moved in on her yet. With them in play, it makes it a bit trickier for them to maneuver. Unfortunately, her husband, Charlie, left Portland yesterday for Salem on business. I called Krit and Syl and they're shadowing him in case anybody from Manticore decides to take a stab at him."

"Does Tinga know how she got spotted?" Max asked.

"She thinks it might have to do with her son, Case," Zack said. "Tinga told me that she's kept a very careful eye on him as he's grown up and she says that he does show X5 traits. She's always warning him not to show off during class or in gym or anything like that, though because he is only four years old, she tells him it's because he shouldn't make the other kids feel bad and she says he's normally extremely careful, but being that he is that young, he might have accidentally slipped once or twice." His phone rang and he looked at it for a moment before he flipped it open and answered it. "Tinga. We're here."

"Thank God," Tinga said. "How many?"

"Myself, plus Max, Lana, and Zane," Zack replied. "I've got Krit and Syl on your husband. They said they'd check in with me sometime in the next hour or so." He frowned, even though Tinga couldn't see it. "Is this safe?"

"I'm clean as a whistle on audio and video and they only tapped my land line," Tinga assured him. "They probably know that it would tip me off big time if they tried to plant anything in here when I'm at work and you know how difficult it is to tap a cell phone without making somebody like you or me aware. I've kept to my usual routine, other than the fact that Charlie had to go out of town."

"How did you know that Lydecker has somebody or some people watching you?" Zane asked.

Tinga sighed. "I saw Cody the other day when I was going back into work after my lunch break. I might not have seen him since the night that we escaped from Manticore, but I would know those eyes anywhere no matter what." The other four exchanged a glance, recalling Cody's blue right eye and green left eye. "I didn't go up to him and say hi, even though I really wanted to. In fact, as a precaution, I pretended that I didn't even notice him. What I did notice, though I also hid the fact that I did, was the two suspicious-looking vans that were outside and how I saw Cody talk to some men that had gotten out of one of them and then how he climbed inside the other. I went inside the bakery and when I got to the back room, I called Zack on this secure line and let him know. I think that there might be bugs planted inside the bakery, where it would be harder for me to check. They're most likely doing covert surveillance on me and Case outside of our apartment and of his school as well."

"Jesus," Zane said quietly. "I can't believe Cody didn't make it out."

"I don't think any of us can," Zack said. "Okay, let's take things one at a time. Max, I want you to cover night surveillance outside Tinga's building. Zane, tomorrow I want you to go over to the bakery where Tinga works and go inside. Order something, flirt shamelessly with her, just act normal while you see if there are any bugs that are readily apparent. Lana, I want you to cover Case's school tomorrow. Depending on what Zane finds or doesn't find, I might swap the two of you the day after. I'll cover outside of the bakery during Tinga's shift."

"Sounds like a good start," Max said.

"It does," Tinga said. "I guess I'll be seeing at least Zane tomorrow. Good-bye, you guys."

"Good-bye," Zack said. He disconnected the phone and sighed. "I'll give you guys the addresses that you'll need later."

"I should get close to Tinga's crib sometime in the next few hours," Max said. She stretched.

Lana discreetly glanced at Zack and Max. "I'm going to go get us some dinner. I saw a diner down the street." She got up and then yanked Zane to his feet. "Come on, bro, you look like you could use a walk."

"What the hell," Zane said, shrugging. "Lead on, Lana." The two of them left the room.

Max tried to fight off a yawn. "I should probably get an hour or two of sleep before I head out to Tinga's." She looked over at Zack. "You good on sleep?"

"With all of the rest I've gotten over the last week or so, I feel like I'm all right on sleep for about a month," Zack said dryly. "But yeah, Maxie, I'm okay for rest. If I decide to sleep tonight, I'll wait until later when either Zane or Lana can stand guard."

"Makes sense," Max said. She reached for Zack's hand. "So…you and me, together in a motel room…" She grinned. "You get the message that I'm pretty sure Lana left for us when she practically dragged Zane out of here."

"Yeah," Zack said. He leaned in and kissed Max, who responded immediately. The kiss was slow, sweet, and passionate and when the two of them finally parted, they were both slightly out of breath. "Maxie…"

"Yes?" Max said.

"About us…" Zack once again found himself struggling for the right words. _Say it, soldier!_ "I love you more than anything, but I don't know if I can give you a normal relationship."

Max shrugged. "Good thing that I'm not normal." She saw Zack start to say something, but she shook her head. "Zack, I don't care about that. Maybe I did once, but that was when I was chasing ordinary guys. What matters more to me than a relationship that they would define to be normal is the guy that I'm in the relationship with. I know that you'll be away from me most of the time and while I won't lie and say I'm absolutely cool with it, I understand because I know what you have to do and most importantly, how you are. I know that while our time together will most likely be few and far between, that you'll make every nanosecond of it count and so will I."

Zack nodded. "I'll definitely make it count." He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you, Maxie."

"I love you too, Zack," Max said. They kissed again and then Max yawned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Zack said. They lay down on the bed and he pulled Max to his side. "Get some rest. I'll wake you when it's time for you to get up."

"Thank you," Max said. She smiled, snuggled up to Zack, and fell asleep.

TBC


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Max sighed impatiently the following afternoon as she sat in her room. _I hate being by myself on comm. duty while the others get to play. I know I was out doing my bit last night outside Tinga's crib, but it's still kind of boring._ Her cell phone rang and she smiled. _Finally. Nice timing._ She picked it up and answered it. "Yeah, what's the dealio?"

"Hey, sis," Zane said. "Just popped into the bakery. Big sis was right, they're all over the place. And yes, she did threaten to castrate me if I tried that for real on her."

"I bet she did," Max said, laughing. "Well, you know were to go next."

"That I do," Zane agreed. "I'll catch you later."

"Later," Max said. She disconnected and picked up the remote control and turned the TV on and couldn't help smirking. _Let's hear it for the people who are almost as screwed up as we are! It somehow makes me feel better to know that while I have black helicopter guys gunning for me 24-7, at least I'm not--_ Max suddenly looked to her left towards the curtained-off window when she'd heard a female voice swear. _That voice…have I heard it somewhere._ She kept the TV on, but focused on the outside as she heard somebody stop and open up a cell phone.

"This is Control."

Max froze and held her breath. _Oh, hell._

"X5-268 reporting in as ordered, sir," the female that Max had heard before answered.

_Allie?_ Max thought. _First Cody and now Allie, hell let's get all the rest of our sibs that didn't make it out and throw them in the mix! Let's have a freaking party._

"What's your situation, 268?" Control asked.

"The situation is unchanged," Allie replied. "577 and 341 have reported in from their locations outside of 656's place of employment and from the school of 656's offspring, respectively. 656 at this point is unaware of our presence, sir."

_Cody and Allie for sure and now Richie as well,_ Max thought. _Shit._

"Continue as you are," Control ordered. "Report back in again tomorrow at this time. Control out."

"X5-268 out," Allie said crisply. She dialed another number. "It's about time you picked it up, 341."

"Get a hold of yourself, A—268," Richie said. "You sound like you jammed your M-16 up your rear end."

Max grinned at the comment and the laughter apparent in Richie's voice. _He hasn't changed one bit. He's definitely still part of the Smartass Brigade. Thank goodness Krit and Ben aren't around._

"Cut the unnecessary chatter, 341," Allie snapped.

"Seriously, 268, relax," Richie said. "Nothing's going on here. I didn't pick up on the first ring because I had been watching a teacher lead a group of children out of the building and to a park just down the street and I was checking to see if T—656's kid was among them, which he wasn't. I was doing my job."

"Then keep doing your job," Allie said coolly. "When 656 arrives to pick her offspring up from school, return to our accommodations downtown. You'll need to rest up."

"I know. I did the same thing yesterday," Richie said. "And I last slept the night before we left to get out here. I'll be fine."

"Just do what I tell you," Allie said.

"Yes, ma'am," Richie said.

"Thank you, 341," Allie said. "That wasn't so hard. 268 out." She disconnected the phone and then dialed another number and Max listened as Allie had a nearly identical conversation with Cody before she disconnected her phone and walked away. As soon as Max was sure that Allie was out of range, she picked up her own phone and dialed Zack's number.

"Max, what's going on?" he asked.

"It's not just Cody that's here, Allie and Richie are on the mission too," Max said. "I heard Allie just outside of the motel. Don't worry, she and the guys aren't staying here. I think she was coming from the diner after lunch and judging by how she swore, I guess she had been planning on checking in when she was in there and forgot. Cody's still by the bakery and Richie is down near Case's school, so Lana needs to watch out from him. I don't think either of them has spotted the other because I haven't heard from Lana one way or another. It also sounds like Richie's pulling night duty by the apartment like I am because of his own shark DNA. I know I didn't see him last night."

"Damn," Zack swore. "Call Zane, Lana, and Tinga and let them know. You'll most likely get Tinga's voice mail at this time of the day."

"Gotcha," Max said.

There was a slight hesitation on the other end of the line. "How did she sound?"

"Allie? Bad," Max said grimly. "She's Manticore all the way now for sure. She sounded even more uptight and pissed off than Trainer Wilkins, that guy who thought that having us run the assault course in a blizzard in ten below would be fun. Both Richie and Cody, on the other hand…"

"I can almost hear the wheels turning inside of your head," Zack said.

"It doesn't sound like either of them has changed at all," Max said. "As much as I hate the sound of it, we might have a few weak spots."

"Weak spots, maybe, but our first priority is making sure that Tinga and Case stay out of Manticore's hands," Zack said. "Convincing Cody and Richie to bail is secondary."

"You do know me well," Max said. "Noted."

"Just notify the others. I'll be in touch," Zack said.

"Will do," Max said. She disconnected the phone and dialed Tinga's cell and left a message on her voice mail before she dialed Lana's number. "Yo, Lana. Keep your eye out for Richie."

"You're shitting me," Lana said. "Richie's here and he's covering this area for our old home?"

"Bingo and bingo," Max said.

"Shit," Lana swore. "Anybody else we should invite to the family reunion?"

"We know about Cody and Allie's here too," Max said.

"I never got along with her all that much," Lana remarked.

Max laughed. "True that. I remember. I've got to relay this 411 onto Zane, so I'll get back to you later. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Consider it done," Lana promised.

"Catch ya later," Max said. She disconnected the phone, sighed, and was about to dial Zane's number when it rang. She looked puzzled but she answered the phone anyway. "What is it?"

"Maxie? Oh, Jesus, Max…" Syl said.

"Syl? Calm down, what happened? What's going on?" Max asked. "Are you guys all right?"

"Krit and I are okay, but…" Syl took a deep breath to calm herself down. "We were tailing Tinga's husband and it seemed to be going all right. We followed him to an office building in downtown Salem and when we got close, we smelled something off. It was vaguely familiar, but neither Krit nor I could place it at first. It took us a few seconds to figure out exactly what it was because we hadn't smelled this particular brand of putty yet, it must have been a Manticore special that came out after we left the place, but by the time…we got to the doors when the explosion happened. We were knocked for a loop a little bit, but we got ourselves together and we got into the building in the confusion and we looked for Charlie…" Syl had to take another deep breath. "Maxie, we failed. He was dead. I'm so sorry, we're both sorry. Oh God, Tinga's going to hate us…"

"Calm down, Syl," Max said, trying to sound calm. "Tinga's not going to hate you. You tried your best. Neither you nor Krit specialize in demolitions, so neither of you should blame yourselves for what happened. I'm going to get in touch with Zack and we'll figure out how to take things from there, okay?"

"I got it," Syl said. She still sounded a little bit shaky.

"Relax, everything will be okay," Max assured her. She and Syl said good-bye and then she disconnected the phone, dropped it onto the bed, and put her head in her hands. _Her husband is gone…poor Tinga! Poor Krit and Syl…can this get worse? Don't answer that one, Max, of course it can! Don't let it get worse._ She picked up the phone again and dialed Zack.

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Hit a Sista Back."

Max watched Tinga's apartment from her spot on the roof of the building next door the following night, smiling sadly as she watched Tinga pace restlessly in the living room. _Poor Tinga. Manticore's back on her ass in a big way and they make her lose her husband. How is she not completely losing it? Then again, big sis always was strong where it counted._ She sighed. _I still wish that I could do something for her. Wait a second, you are. You're making sure that Manticore doesn't take her and her son and lock them in a cage in that God-forsaken place. That's the best thing that I can ever think of to do for somebody._ She stiffened when she heard a noise. _What the…damn, is that Richie?_ She snuck around quietly and as she came around the corner of one of the roof accesses, she stopped short in order not to run into the young man that was standing there.

"I should have known that it was you," he said.

"Richie?" Max breathed. She carefully listened for any soldiers nearby waiting to pounce on her, but she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

"Who were you expecting, Lydecker in a dress?" he teased.

Max couldn't help laughing. "It is you, Richie." She reached out and hugged her long-lost brother. She let go and looked up at him. "Damn, you've really grown up."

"Yeah, that tends to happen as time goes by," Richie said.

"It does," Max agreed. She stepped back and frowned. "Are you being listened in on or peeped at?"

Richie shook his head. "I'm not, don't worry about it. I've only got a location tracer and it's showing that I'm where I'm supposed to be. And to make sure that they know that particular fact…" He gestured for Max to be quiet before he put a hand to his earpiece. "341 to 268. I'm reporting in as ordered."

"Good," Allie said on the other end. "Any change?"

"Nope, not a damn thing's different," Richie said.

Allie made an aggravated-sounding sigh. "341, how many times do I have to tell you not to use slang when making a transmission of this type?"

"I'm sorry, 268," Richie said, rolling his eyes. "The situation is nominal."

"There you go," Allie said. "Check back in at 0600. When 656 and her offspring leave to go to the child's school, follow them but do not remain there. I'll be taking that watch tomorrow. Follow 656 to her place of employment and remain until 577 has confirmed that he is on his watch and then return to our accommodations and go on comm. duty. This is 268 out."

"341 out," Richie said. He turned off the earpiece and shrugged. "I think I must have transmitted to her as she was about to go to sleep."

"Allie always hated being woken up or bothered right when she was about to sleep," Max agreed. She looked worried. "How is she? How have you and Cody and everybody else doing since the escape?"

Richie shook his head grimly. "It hasn't been good at all, Max. I remember that Kip and I…we were getting close to the perimeter fence when a TAC team jumped us. I almost managed to fight my way clear but they got Kip down and I couldn't leave him behind in enemy territory, so I tried to fight the entire team off so that I could get Kip and get us both over the fence. You can probably figure out on your own how that worked out. The next thing that I knew was waking up strapped into one of those Psy Ops chairs and being worked over like you wouldn't believe. They finally let us survivors out six months later." He smiled sadly. "I was told while I was in there that an additional two of us not counting Eva had died while trying to escape. Another three of us, including Kip, were so badly injured from struggling with the TAC teams that they all died within a week so out of the twenty-five of us that were in our family to begin with back in the day, we were down to five: myself, Jace, Allie, Cody, and Hawk. Since there were so few of us, they split us up among the other four units. Allie went into Unit 1, Cody and I went into Unit 3, Hawk into Unit 4, and Jace got Unit 5. It was so hard in the beginning because it seemed like almost everybody in my new unit thought at first that Cody and I were traitors. We were constantly defending ourselves for at least that first year and every single time, I felt like I was betraying you guys. They let it go by the end of our second year out of Psy Ops, though. But while our new unit mates and the other transgenics in general might have eventually accepted us at least for the most part, the people in charge certainly haven't. The trainers were almost always harder on us growing up than the rest of them, at least until we got cleared for missions. At least they slowed down the experiments as we got older, especially after we were cleared to go on solo mission. Once we hit puberty and adolescence, they cut them down to once a month when we weren't out in the field and then once we got the go-ahead to go solo, it became once every two months. That's something, at least. It still sucks beyond comprehension, but it's better than nothing. While that might have gotten easier to a degree, their thing about keeping us on a short leash didn't. Even after we were cleared to go on missions a few years after you and some of the others got out, we had the tracer-plus-audio tracking implants every single time, even after the first three missions when the others stopped having to go to the infirmary to get them put in before a mission. Hell, Cody and I only got put on tracking-only implants two years ago. Hawk got his tracking implant downgraded almost four years ago, Jace stopped needing an implant completely two years ago, and Allie's been off the implants for a full six years. Lydecker and company seem to have trust issues."

"Hell, let's add that to the obvious control issues that Deck has," Max said dryly. She sighed. "How about Cody, Allie, Jace, and Hawk? How have they been handling things?"

"Hawk's been okay, I guess," Richie said. "He still isn't exactly happy with everything, but he doesn't have an immediate desire to try to bail from Manticore again either. Jace I can never tell. She misses the hell out of everybody but yet at least ninety percent of the time she acts the way that the trainers and all of them expect an X5 to behave. Allie, though…" Richie sighed dejectedly. "I don't know what exactly happened in Psy Ops with her because we were kept separate from each other during our stays there, but Allie was a different person when she got out than from when she got thrown in. Remember how quiet and shy she used to be when we were kids? I mean, she would rub some of the others the wrong way sometimes, but she was still for the most part a sweet girl."

"Yeah, Lana, Cay, and Syl in particular didn't get along with her sometimes," Max recalled.

Richie nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. But this Allie…this isn't Allie. It's as if they killed Allie in Psy Ops and instead of that girl, out came X5-268. She's just…she's what they want us X5s to be. Cold, heartless, efficient, ruthless, all of those things. It scares me. Lydecker and everybody was happy with her. She was taken completely off flight risk status much sooner than Jace was, and like I said, Cody and Hawk and I aren't completely off of that particular list. And don't even think about calling her by her name, either. Cody did once by accident one time about three years removed from Psy Ops when they had our unit and hers in martial arts together and when the trainer called Allie and Cody front and center to the mats to go for a round against each other, Allie ended up sending Cody to the infirmary for three days. I've almost slipped and called her by her name a couple of times over the years, but then I remember what happened with her and Cody and I catch myself." He snorted. "I'm just glad that I'm not in the same unit with her anymore. We just happened to get assigned to this mission together because our strengths worked well for what was and is required."

"You don't sound too happy about this mission," Max said.

"To say the least," Richie agreed. "How the hell can I do this to my big sister? How many years has she spent making sure that she and her family is safe from Manticore and why do I have to bring her and her son back to that hell because her kid was just being a kid? I don't know how I'm going to do this, Max." He snorted. "It might be causing a hell of a lot of grief for me and Cody, but it's sure as hell no skin off of Allie's ass. She just thinks that this is simply another mission."

Max nodded, not quite sure what to say. After a few moments, she looked back up at Richie. "If you still hate it so much, why didn't you try to make another attempt at an escape from Manticore?"

"I wanted to leave," Richie said honestly. "At first I didn't want to make another go of it because I was scared out of my mind. I know that I didn't want to go back to Psy Ops if I tried and failed again. If six months of them going one hundred percent on me was horrible, could you imagine what they would do if I failed on take two? Then when I got older and that fear started to wear off, it just…I don't know. I thought of it and I tried to work out a plan. I must have come up with a million of them. Every time that I would be briefed before going out on a mission, I would only be half paying attention to what was being said because I was trying to find a way to work around it so that I could leave. But like I said, I was and am still considered something of a flight risk so they always had things set up so that it would be damn close to impossible for somebody like me to be able to skip town."

"I don't know what to tell you," Max said quietly. "I'm really sorry." She gave Richie another hug. She brushed some of his hair away from his face and smirked. "You need a haircut."

"Screw you," Richie joked. He and Max laughed and he smiled sadly. "I hope you win."

Max knew what Richie was talking about. "Me too. Take care, Richie. Stay strong."

"I will. You too." Riche gave her one more smile before he disappeared to his original hiding place.

Max sighed sadly. _Poor Richie. I can't believe the hell that Lydecker and everybody put him, Cody, Allie, Jace, and Hawk through back at Manticore. I'm going to have to tell Zack about this._ She frowned. _He's not going to be happy that Richie and I talked, no matter which side Richie is really on where it counts._ Max shrugged. _Might as well get it over with. Here goes nothing._ Keeping her eyes on Tinga's living room window, she took out her cell phone and dialed Zack's number. "Zack, it's me."

"What is it, Maxie?" Zack asked.

"I just saw Richie," Max said. "As in we had a conversation."

"You…did…what?" Zack asked slowly.

"If he had an eye on him, then I would have bailed," Max pointed out. "I didn't tell him that you, Lana, Zane, Krit, and Syl were all here in the city. I know what I'm doing, Zack. Don't worry about it."

"What did Richie say?" Zack asked.

"Well, Allie is how I thought she was," Max said. "She's not the Allie that we knew and apparently she hasn't been since she got out of Psy Ops six months after we left Manticore."

"Six months?" Zack repeated quietly.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "God, the only people left back there from our old family are Allie, Richie, Hawk, Cody, and Jace. They had it hard over the past ten years or so. Richie's conflicted as hell about this mission and he said that Cody is as well. Neither of them are happy about it at all and they don't want to go through with it, but you know Manticore."

"Unfortunately," Zack said. "Does Allie care at all?"

"If you mean completing the mission successfully, then yes," Max said. "If you mean about Tinga and Case, then she doesn't give a rat's ass. I'm just confused as hell right now, Zack."

"I don't blame you," he said softly. "Be careful out there, Maxie. I love you."

"I love you too, Zack," Max said. She disconnected her phone and focused her attention on her oldest sister.

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Notes: If anybody is wondering what happened to a fic that I had posted here called "A Day In Logan's Life," I got some less-than-positive reviews about it and decided to remove it as a precaution. If you are curious about it and would like to read it, send me an email. Thanks!

Zack disconnected his cell phone the following night and turned to Max, Krit, Lana, and Syl. Zane was on guard outside of Tinga's apartment building. "We're all set."

"Yeah, no problem," Krit said quietly.

"It's going to be okay," Max reassured him. She gave her brother's hand a supportive squeeze. "You and Syl heard what Tinga told the two of you when we were getting the details done. She doesn't blame either of you for what happened to Charlie. I wish that we could have won them all, but that ain't happening so we have to get everything else."

"She's right," Lana said. She picked up a chunk of explosive putty and began to examine it critically. "We've got some good things in our favor. Whoever it was that was in Salem for Manticore and got the hit on Charlie hasn't come down here to support Cody, Allie, and Richie so as far as the number of X-series present in Portland goes, we outnumber them by two to one now. Even with the training that the other three have on us, it shouldn't be enough to overcome the numbers deficit should it come to that." She set the putty down on the bedside table next to the other explosive devices and equipment that she was going over. "Not to mention the fact that Cody and Richie are something of a question mark. If the two of them have to confront us, will they or won't they attack?"

"No matter what, we still have to prepare for this under the assumption that they will," Zack said. "Believe me, I miss them as badly and I hope that they let us go as much as the rest of you do. We have to keep every possibility in our heads, though, no matter how much we might hate them."

"Personally, I think the thought of having three-quarters of the Smartass Brigade together again in the same vicinity is a hell of a lot scarier than the thought of some our own sibs attacking us," Max said, hoping to get at least a smile out of Krit and Syl. She smiled in relief when she saw that it did.

Syl laughed a little, though it sounded a bit shaky. "Plus Cody. Krit, Zane, Richie, and Ben usually managed to rope him into helping them with whatever form of mayhem that they were planning."

"I guess it's a good thing that Ben's not here or everybody would be in trouble, whether they're with Manticore or not," Zack said dryly. He glanced at his watch. "Max, Syl, Lana, the three of you better get going if you want to make that call."

"We'll be back soon," Max promised. She leaned over and gave Zack a quick kiss on the lips before grabbing her motorcycle helmet and leaving the motel room with her sisters. The three of them jumped on their bikes and rode several miles until they were out of the city altogether. They spotted a pay phone and slowed to a stop in front of it and shut off their engines. Lana and Syl took off their helmets and dismounted, but Max kept her helmet on and remained on her motorcycle and watched as the other two walked up to the pay phone. She gave them a nod and Lana put a few coins into the phone and dialed Tinga's land line.

"Hello?" Tinga said.

"Penny," Lana said. "I am so sorry about Charlie."

"Hi, Ellen," Tinga said. "Thank you. God, Case is just broken about this and I'm a mess and…" Tinga trailed off and Max shook her head.

_Poor Tinga_, she thought. _Manticore needs to and is going to pay for this in a big way._ She kept alert as she heard Tinga compose herself on the other end of the line.

"…it's just crazy," Tinga finished. "Where are you? Back in Sacramento?"

"No, I'm in Oregon," Lana said. "I had to come as soon as I heard and was able to get away. My cousin Nancy's here with me. You remember her, right?"

"Hi, Penny," Syl said.

"Hey, Nancy," Tinga said. She sighed. "I've got so much to do. I've got to check on when Charlie's body is being sent back here from Salem and then I've got to make arrangements to have the body cremated and even though it's going to cost a hell of a lot less than to have him buried, I've still got to find a way to be able to pay for the cost of the whole thing and—"

"—you're running yourself ragged," Lana interrupted. "Look, why don't we take you and Case out for dinner. I know that there's no way that you feel up to actually making anything. Just take a breather from those arrangements."

"I don't know," Tinga said hesitantly. Max bit her lip. This was where they could really tip Manticore off. Those guys probably knew that Tinga could spot her phone line being tapped and were also aware of the fact that she knew better than to take any steps that could possibly leave her and Case wide open for the taking, so Max, Zack, Tinga and the others agreed to have Tinga hesitate before agreeing to what Lana would be asking her. "I really have so much to do and I still have to go to work. This is the only real time I'm going to have to get all of this done or at least get a good jump on it."

"Please?" Lana asked. "You can't run yourself into the ground like that, Penny, you're going through enough grief and are under enough stress as it is. I'll tell you what, Nancy and I can help you with those arrangements tomorrow morning before you have to go to work. How's that?"

"I really don't know…"

"Please, Penny?" Syl begged. "We want to help you and Case."

"I know you do, but…" Tinga was quiet for a few moments. "Okay, Case and I will go to dinner with you. You're going to have to pick us up, though. I've only got my motorcycle here. We only had one car and Charlie…Charlie took it with him to Salem."

"Not a problem," Lana said. "We'll swing by later tonight. We've got to find a place to stay, we're not even in Portland yet, but once we do that and get settled into our room and all of that jazz, we'll come by. You're still living at the address that you sent that last Christmas card from?"

"Still there," Tinga confirmed. "Thank you so much again, Ellen."

"Hey, you're one of my best friends," Lana said. "You'd do the same for me. We'll be seeing you tonight, Penny. Give Case our love."

"I will," Tinga promised. "Good-bye, Ellen. Good-bye, Nancy."

"'Bye, Penny," Syl said.

"Good-bye," Lana said. She hung up and then she and Syl walked back to Max and the bikes. "It's officially on."

"Looking forward to it," Max replied. She waited for Lana and Syl to put their helmets on and get back onto their bikes before she restarted the engine on hers and then the three of them rode back to the motel. They parked the bikes and went back inside the guys' room, where Zack and Krit were waiting. "The call was made."

Zack nodded. "Good." He turned to Krit. "Start getting ready to go. We need to be meeting Zane no later than twenty minutes from now." Krit nodded and began gathering some equipment and packing it into a duffel bag. Lana and Syl went over to help Krit and Max went over to Zack and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

"So am I," Zack conceded. "Don't worry, Maxie. We've got this planned out as well as it can be. We're going to pull this off. We have to and we will."

"I know," Max said. She closed her eyes and let Zack's presence calm her, just like it always did. _He could and did calm almost all of us down. He's so strong and I love him so much for it._ She gave Zack a soft kiss on the lips. "I love you."

Zack kissed her back. "I love you too, Maxie." Then he released her, the look in both of their eyes shifting to a harder, more determined feeling.

_Let the games begin,_ Max thought.

TBC


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Cody briefly frowned from his place in the surveillance van as he and the techs listened in on Tinga's phone conversation before quickly wiping it from his face, not wanting the others that were present to see any kind of expression or emotion on his face. _Great, a golden opportunity to grab my oldest sister and my nephew. Perfect. Now we've got to grab them and take them back to Manticore like good little boys and girls. _He bit his lip._ Something about Tinga's friends…have I heard their voices before? This is really odd._ He stood up. "Stay here and keep monitoring. I'm going to report this to X5-268." He made sure that the techs had acknowledged him before he jumped out of the van and made his way over to where Allie was standing across the street from Tinga's apartment building. "268?"

Allie turned to him and nodded. "Yes, 577. Report."

"We've just intercepted a phone conversation from 656's apartment, ma'am," Cody said. "Two friends of hers from out-of-state. They had just gotten into the area and talked 656 into letting them take her and her offspring out to dinner later today. An ETA was not given, but I believe from the details that were given during the conversation as well as the background noises that I picked up on from the other end of the line that the two friends will arrive here at 656's residence sometime between 1830 and 1930 hours."

"It sounds like we have our time to execute the objective," Allie said. "I'll call 341 down from his post up above and then I'll start prepping the ordinary members of our team. When these two people arrive for 656 and her offspring, I'll take some of our ordinaries in one of the vans and you and 341 will stay back with the rest of them for several minutes before following me, as backup. I don't think that I'll be needing it because I will have my ordinary group, plus 656 will be slowed down by her progeny and the two humans. The child might be half-X5 and showing some abilities, but they aren't trained. It certainly won't be of any help." She nodded and gestured to some innocent-looking vehicles that were parked nearby. "Choose your mode of transportation at your discretion. If you feel that it is necessary, you and 341 may travel separately from the ordinary members of your contingent."

"Yes, ma'am," Cody said. _She's just as anal retentive as ever. I don't think she was ever this bad before a training mission before we tried to escape all those years ago. Wait a moment, there was that one time the January before we tried to leave when we were about to go out on a training mission in the woods and Zack was trying to get us to help in planning it out but Allie had annoyed the hell out of Syl earlier that day and they wouldn't stop…oh shit! Not this. I don't need this!_

Allie looked at Cody suspiciously. "Do you have a problem with my plan of action, 577? Is there something that you would like to share with me?" She glared murderously at him. "Are you thinking about abandoning the mission because of our previous association with 656? Tell me right now!"

"No, ma'am, I have no intentions whatsoever of abandoning this mission," Cody said angrily. "I get pre-battle nerves before any and every mission, 268. You know that as well as anybody and I can assure you that it will have no effect on my performance during the actual execution of the objective. Whatever you ask of me, it will be performed to the best of my abilities and by the end of this day, we will have 656 back in Manticore hands and have her offspring as well."

"You better see to it that what you have just said to me will be exactly what happens," Allie hissed. "I have worked so hard for so many years to earn back the trust that Colonel Lydecker and the other people in charge once had in me. I have pushed myself to the limit and beyond to make myself stronger, faster, and a far better soldier than anybody could have dreamed of. The day that I went down for that mission briefing six years ago and I was told that I would not have to report to the infirmary for the implantation of any kind of tracer was the happiest day of my life. I was one of us again. They had faith in me and now they have given me command of a highly important mission and if you have any ideas of blowing this for me, you will be very sorry. Do you remember what Colonel Lydecker did three years ago to that X4 that had been trusted with a mission of similar magnitude and blew it? He had that soldier sent to Psy Ops and then when he had sent out X5-199 and X4-233 on the mission to salvage X4-539's mess, they managed to salvage things and 199 returned safely, but 233 was killed while they were out because of how badly 539 had botched things the first time around. Do you happen to recall what happened to X4-539 after X5-199's return?" She leaned forward and up slightly so that her face was only a hair away from Cody's. "539 was _executed._ He was shot right here…" She pointed to a spot right between her eyes. "…and that was it for him. Do you want to end up like him, 577?"

"I have no intention whatsoever to end up like X4-539," Cody said. His face and voice were as blank and steady as any Manticore soldier, but he was very nervous inside._ What the hell has gotten into Allie? Either this is the ultimate case of performance anxiety I've ever seen or she's actually standing on that diving board, ready to swan dive right into the deep end of the pool._ "The only thing that I plan on doing is executing the objective perfectly, ma'am."

"Good," Allie said, backing away from Cody. "Wait here while I brief the ordinaries and then inform and relieve 341." Cody saluted her and waited patiently after she disappeared, only relaxing when he saw Richie approaching him several minutes later. He waved Richie over and they stood over in sight but out of earshot of the ordinary soldiers.

"Did Psycho fill you in?" he asked quietly, low enough for only Richie to be able to hear him even though they were far enough away from the others.

"Yeah," Richie said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "This isn't good at all, Cody." He hesitated for a moment. "Max is here. I saw her last night up on top. Tinga must have managed to get word to her somehow. I remember how good Max was and probably still is, but I don't think that she's going to be able to pull this one off by herself."

"She won't be pulling this off all by herself," Cody told him. "When I was listening in on that chat that Tinga was having on the phone with her friends, I could have sworn that there was something about the friends' voices that sounded familiar. I placed it about a minute later when I was telling Allie. The friend who was going most of the talking was Lana and the other one was Syl. We're dead even now, at least as far as X5s go. I guess the ordinaries will slow them down a little bit." _I don't want them to be slowed down, but they will be._

"Yeah," Richie said. "Max didn't say anything to me about any other family members present. I can't really blame her, though. Did you get anything from the conversation between Tinga, Syl, and Lana?"

"No," Cody replied. "Those three aren't stupid. I wouldn't count out the possibility of more of us around, though."

Richie sighed. "If there was only some kind of way for us to sabotage this mission without it looking too obvious. If all else fails, we could always rig it so that it looks like that the ordinaries tripped us up as we were trying to grab Tinga and her son and then say that the ordinaries slowed us down and allowed them to make a get away. What do you think?"

"I wish that we could pull that off, but you weren't here went Allie went paranoid psycho on me," Cody said. "You shouldn't have just heard her, you should have fucking _seen_ her, Richie. She freaking lost it or she sure as heck would have if we weren't standing out in public with other people around. She's scaring me, man. There is no way that I can think of that we can get around her. We're as screwed as we can get and I don't see anybody around who can and would be willing to bail us out of this mess."

"So I guess that settles it. We've got to go and betray our big sister. Wonderful," Richie said sarcastically. "Anything else we could do while we're at it?" Cody shook his head and he and Richie exchanged a pained look.

_There's not much we can do and even less that we can say_, he thought. _We've got four of our sisters on one side and a psychopath who used to be our sister on the other. Just another Manticore sandwich made with two slices of brick wall for bread and us as the deli meat. Maybe it could be worse. We could be Tinga or her son._ He sighed and followed Richie towards one of the vans.

TBC


End file.
